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Tampa Sports Authority halts use of herbicide at golf courses

Staff file photo by JAY NOLAN (2008)

The DEP wants the city to conduct more extensive soil and groundwater testing of the area to determine the source of the arsenic.

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2009

TAMPA - For nearly a decade, the Tampa Sports Authority has used an arsenic-laden weedkiller on the fairways of the golf courses it oversees.

The industrial-strength herbicide, monosodium methanearsonate, or MSMA, is approved by the Florida Department of Agriculture and applied only by licensed professionals.

But the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is concerned the weedkiller is contaminating the groundwater at least one of the courses, Rogers Park, 7911 N. 30th St., which is bounded by the Hillsborough River and within a mile of hundreds of drinking-water wells.

Recent tests conducted by a consulting firm hired by Tampa to monitor contamination from a old municipal landfill underneath a section of the golf course, revealed higher-than-acceptable levels of arsenic in one of several groundwater testing wells.

DEP wants the city to conduct more extensive soil and groundwater testing of the area to determine the source of the arsenic and remove the contaminated soil, if needed.

Eric Hart, the sports authority's executive director, said he was not aware of the DEP concerns about groundwater contamination from MSMA until contacted by The Tampa Tribune and TBO.com. He said the authority will temporarily discontinue the use of MSMA use at its golf courses until the issue is resolved.

Industry groups defend the use of MSMA as relatively cheap and effective way to rid parks, athletic fields and fairways of weeds. They claim that low doses of its primary ingredient, inorganic arsenic, pose no threat to public health or the environment.

Still, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services say chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic is known to cause cancer and has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and declines in brain functions.

Environmental regulators are concerned enough about the potential harm from MSMA that they have banned most uses of the controversial herbicide by the end of 2013.

EPA officials plan to study its possible effects on wildlife and water supplies.

In Florida, where a mix of sandy soils and a high water table means contaminants such as arsenic can pass easily into groundwater and aquifers used by public utilities, the sale and use of MSMA on golf courses will be prohibited by the end of 2010, the EPA said.

Hart said the herbicide is sprayed in certain areas of golf courses where the weeds are most prevalent. The authority only uses about 7 gallons of MSMA a year, he said.

"We don't use that much of it anyways," Hart said. "It's only applied where it's needed."

The sports authority has come under fire in previous years for its use of a controversial worm-killing pesticide, Curfew, at the Babe Zaharias Golf Course in Forest Hills.

After neighbors complained about the use of the pesticide, applied to fairways and tee boxes to kill worms that feed on grass, Dow discontinued its use on Babe Zaharias.

Dow said it would continue using Curfew on other city-owned golf courses.

Of course, there could be other sources for the elevated arsenic levels.

Rogers Park was built on a former municipal landfill that was shutdown in 1957. It is one of several old dumps that the DEP wants the city to investigate and clean up, if needed.

The sports authority also also operates Rocky Point golf course near Tampa International Airport.

Since the early 1990s, the city has been required by the DEP to conduct annual reports of the groundwater using several test wells at the perimeter of the old landfill.

DEP said it won't know the source of contamination until further tests are conducted.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679.

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