Best Management Practices for Maryland Golf Courses

Figure 38. Pesticide storage areas should be separate from storage areas for other chemicals. Photo credit: Joseph Roberts.

Mixing/Washing Station

Pesticide leaks or spills, if contained, will not percolate down through the soil into groundwater or run off the surface to contaminate streams, ditches, ponds, and other waterbodies. One of the best containment methods is the use of a properly designed and constructed chemical mixing center (CMC).

Best Management Practices

• Loading pesticides and mixing them with water or oil diluents should be done over an impermeable surface (such as lined or sealed concrete), so that spills can be collected and managed. • Mixing station surface should provide for easy cleaning and recovery of spilled materials. • Pump the sump dry and clean it at the end of each day. Liquids and sediments should also be removed from the sump and the pad whenever pesticide materials are changed to an incompatible product (i.e., one that cannot be legally applied to the same site). • Apply liquids and sediments as you would a pesticide, strictly following label instructions. • Absorbents such as cat litter or sand may be used to clean up small spills and then applied as a topdressing in accordance with the label rates, or disposed of as a waste. • Sweep up solid materials and use as intended.

Disposal

There is usually no safe and legal way to dispose of leftover pesticide from professional applications and therefore all of the chemical must be used according to directions on the label. This includes wash water from pesticide equipment washing, which must be used in accordance with the label instructions.

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