Environmental management systems

TL;DR: For example, the Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are rapidly becoming the accepted standard to identify and manage all environmental issues comprehensively for all enterprises ( manufacturing plants, restaurants, businesses, waste treatment facilities, agricultural facilities, golf course facilities, etc.). The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) position statement on EMS illustrates this point (USEPA 2007): • EPA will encourage widespread use of EMSs across a range of organizations and settings, with particular emphasis on adoption ofEMSs to achieve improved environmental performance and compliance, pollution prevention through source reduction, and continual improvement.

Abstract: M anagenlent of the natural environment by businesses has been dominated for nearly 40 years by legal, regulatory, commandand-control approaches. From the Clean Water Act to chemical use and regulation, business owners and managers, including in golf, have addressed environmental issues in prescribed manners answering to federal, state, and even local law. While legal requirements are not going away in the near future, more and more agencies and businesses are gravitating toward a new standard for enhancing environmental management and stewardship, one that emphasizes proactivity and systematic detail. This new focus on Environmental Management Systems is something that is sure to infiltrate the management of golf courses in the years to come. Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are rapidly becoming the accepted standard to identify and manage all environmental issues comprehensively for all enterprises ( manufacturing plants, restaurants, businesses, waste treatment facilities, agricultural facilities, golf course facilities, etc.). The EPA's position statement on EMS illustrates this point (USEPA 2007): • EPA will encourage widespread use of EMSs across a range of organizations and settings, with particular emphasis on adoption of EMSs to achieve improved environmental performance and compliance, pollution prevention through source reduction, and continual improvement .... • EPA will promote the voluntary adoption of EMSs. To encourage voluntary adoption of EMSs, EPA will rely on public education and voluntary programs. • This document is EPA's strategy for addressing the question of whether and if so, how it may also be appropriate to consider EMSs in the context of the Federal regulatory structure, either to improve the design of regulatory programs, to encourage the use ofEMSs, or both. EPA wishes to make clear that it has no intention of mandating the use of EMSs in rules and permits. Rather, the aim of this strategy is to determine whether there could be benefits from providing options within the regulatory structure for organizations that choose to adopt an EMS. In addition, this strategy does not signal any intent on the part of the agency to modify its existing policy of promoting the widespread use of EMSs on a voluntary basis. Prior to the EMS concept, management of environmental issues for a facility was issue by issue, but an EMS is: a) a new management approach, b) for the whole system, c) for all environmental issues, and d) for daily environmental management decisions at all management levels within an organization to be the normal practice. As the EMS approach is increasingly adopted by golf courses, it will dramatically impact how management and operations are conducted in all components of a facility. Thus, it is important for course owners, officials, and members to understand it. In a