WATER


The Met Office has announced that October was the ninth month in the last eleven to receive below- average rainfall, making 2005 so far one of the driest years on record


by Alastair Mitchell


Few would dispute that Britain’s climate is changing and that the traditional cycle of the seasons is shifting in sometimes unpredictable ways. If the recent past tells us anything, it is that water is becoming an increasingly precious commodity - one that grounds managers and greenkeepers, who are responsible for managing it on outdoor sport facilities, must use prudently.


example will use typically between 80 and 140m3


night at peak demand: a football pitch meanwhile will consume 30m3


a night


during summer overseeding. The quantity of water applied to turf varies from club to club and pitch to pitch of course but the deciding factors in the water usage and management equation remain common to each - those of ambient temperature, evaporation rate, solar radiation and evapotranspiration of grass. To this list, grounds managers must add another factor that is assuming ever greater prominence within their reckoning, namely the price of water. Facilities now pay around £1/m3


for mains


water, says Roger Davey, Managing director of independent irrigation consultants Irritech Limited and chairman of the British Turf and Landscape Irrigation Association, but recent research suggests that this figure could rise dramatically over the next 10 to 15 years. “Grounds managers are becoming wiser about how they source their water, and more aware of the


implications of using it,” he says. “We are all now seeking recyclable and


An 18-hole golf course for a


sustainable alternatives to sourcing everything from water companies, as sportsgrounds pay water rates just like you or I.” Despite the seemingly low rainfall affecting some areas of Britain, Davey maintains that there is “plenty of water around”. It is, however, becoming “an expensive commodity” - the reason why clubs are looking to source their own by abstraction, he says. The alternatives range


from winter boreholes, which can be anything from 25 to 125m deep, to winter bournes, springs that are active only when the water table wells up in winter. Clubs can then store this abstracted water in storage reservoirs. “All clubs consider abstraction within their water management regime” Davey says, “although they should view it within their long-term strategy as lead-in times can be lengthy. It can take up to four years before clubs start to abstract water,” Davey said. “They would need to secure planning permission and an abstraction licence before they proceed.”


Any club considering this


route will have to do their homework as in some regions the Environment Agency (EA) will not allow any more water to be abstracted from aquifers. Regions differ and every case is judged on its merits, although the Catchment Area Management Strategy (CAMS) national framework offers guidance but should be viewed within the EA’s vision of sustainability within different environments.


“Domestic drinking water


management


is the priority for the EA” maintains Jon Jinks, Managing Director of Osprey Irrigation Ltd, who supplies turnkey systems for fine turf, sportsfield and landscape irrigation, as well as closed loop recycling equipment.


“It must continue to


remain free flowing and to be delivered at the volumes that now apply” he said. “Sportsturf is low on the EA’s list of priorities and the intention is to stagger charging rates accordingly.” Research conducted by


Osprey at an 18-hole North Wales golf course about a year ago showed that the annual cost for buying mains water could rise from some £12,000 to £120,000 by 2012, a ten-fold increase. “This is the best case scenario and assumes that the course is using water efficiently,” Jinks said. “Water companies will price sportsturf customers out of the market as supplies will be ring-fenced for drinking water, which will remain at a lower fixed price.” With no affordable mains water available, grounds managers must look to new ways of sourcing their water, he advises. Inevitably, clubs will have to turn their attention to what is currently an untapped resource - ‘grey water’, which includes rainwater and road and field run-off, as well as treated effluent from clubhouses and other facilities. “Water managers must start to seriously consider this option” he says. “Bore holes will not necessarily be viable for the same reason. A club could spend £30,000 on digging the hole and find that their licence is not


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