King County Executive Dow Constantine honored 14 businesses, cities, organizations and people for the work they’re doing to protect and improve the local environment. The Green Globe Awards are the county’s highest honor for local environmental efforts.

Willows Run Golf Course was named Leader in Beneficial Use of Recycled Water.

A King County press release notes about Willows Run:

“Willows Run is pioneering sustainable golf course management for the Puget Sound region. By switching to King County recycled water for irrigation, Willows Run has kept nearly 40 million gallons of water annually in the Sammamish River basin helping to preserve stream flow for fish. The Sammamish River is an important corridor for salmon, and having more water in the river improves water quality and habitat conditions for all fish and wildlife. Because recycled water contains the same nutrients supplied by synthetic fertilizer, Willows Run was able to reduce their use of fertilizer by 50 percent. Fertilizer is made from petroleum. By simply turning on their sprinklers, Willows took the equivalent of 14 cars off the road.”