By Jerry Needham
Express-News Staff Writer
David Doguet uses treated city wastewater to grow varieties of grass that are
sold mostly in San Antonio, but you won't find a blade of thirsty St. Augustine
on the land he leases from the San Antonio Water System.
 David Doguet examines new grass after turning on a circular watering system. The property is leased from the San Antonio Water System and watered with recycled water from the nearby waste-water treatment plant. Photo by Charles Barksdale/Express-News Photographer |
"Our whole thing is environmentally friendly grasses," said Doguet, a past president of the Turfgrass Producers International association who has grown grass for 31/2 years on 200 acres next to the utility's wastewater treatment plants at Salado and Leon creeks. "We don't grow any St. Augustine. Everything we grow out here is low maintenance."
But that wasn't always so.
"I opened my business about 20 years ago along the Texas coast and was the biggest producer of St. Augustine in the state 15 years ago," said Doguet, whose Bladerunner Farms company also operates a grass farm in Poteet.
Steve Clouse, SAWS' operational support director, said the grass farm brings the utility income from land leases and recycled water sales. The operation also reduces SAWS expenses.
"We'd normally have to pay $8,000 to $10,000 for shredding or mowing that land every year," he said. "We have about 2,000 acres for our four wastewater treatment plants, and about half of that is buffer land around the perimeter.
"We wanted to find some sort of project to create a use for the extra land and yet remain neighbor-friendly," Clouse said. "Growing grass for harvesting is a water-intensive business, but he's using a lot of good conservation practices, and this is a great example of what can be done with recycled water. There's never been a complaint from area residents."
And the water supply is unending.
"On a good day in the summertime, we'll supply the farm a half-million gallons of water a day," said Manuel Gonzalez, chief operator at the Salado Creek Water Recycling Center. "We'll supply an average of 250,000 gallons a day the rest of the year."
Doguet, who draws water from the same pipe that feeds recycled water to the downtown River Walk, said the SAWS land doesn't come ready to plant. He did extensive leveling and preparation.
With his recent lease of an additional 190 acres at Salado Creek — 130 of that for grazing cattle — and 140 acres at SAWS' Dos Rios treatment plant, Doguet will double his grass farming around SAWS' four wastewater plants.
"He was our first recycled water customer, and at Dos Rios, he'll use some of our water rights from the Medina River — our first use of river water rights," Clouse said.
The only complaint Doguet has concerns wild pigs.
"Hogs are a real problem on all of our farms," he said. "There are a lot of them around, and they root up the grass."
The grass is harvested in ribbons, leaving strips of grass that quickly grow to cover the bare areas, he said.
The three main grasses he's growing now are Zeon zoysia, JaMur zoysia and baby Bermuda.
"Right now, the buzzword in our industry is zoysia," Doguet said, speaking of a grass that's more tolerant of drought, cold, diseases and insects than is St. Augustine, the water-guzzling grass commonly used in San Antonio lawns.
He's growing two new grasses — Reveille and seashore paspalum — that won't be marketed until next year.
He's really excited about Reveille, a Texas A&M University-developed grass that is a cross between Kentucky bluegrass and native Texas bluegrass.
"It's the grass of the future for our area," he said. "It stays green year-round, has heat and sun tolerance, cold hardiness and needs less water than St. Augustine."
Doguet is growing 20 acres of the Reveille grass to produce seeds to plant 50 acres late this year.
He sells most of his grass in San Antonio to major retail nurseries and for building projects and golf courses.
03/29/2001
