“Having a properly designed and installed system is only half the battle; it is equally important to ensure the system is correctly operated and maintained”


A starting point is to gather all available information about the system, including information on components, scheduling methods, the turf and soil system and climatic data. It is a decided advantage if as-built plans, aerial photos and records of modifications can be accessed. The audit involves checking out the system during operation, noting obvious problems, such as broken, misaligned, sunken, mis-matched or incorrectly positioned heads and high or low pressure. Some of the things to note include:


• Wet spots/areas close to sprinklers (may be related to a faulty check valve or other malfunction of the sprinkler)


• Pop-up risers that do not lift sufficiently above the surrounding ground or are obstructed by grass during operation


• Damaged or mis-aligned sprinkler heads


• Sprinkler arcs that fail to achieve full


rotation (generally 360°; although sprinklers located on the perimeter of the fields are likely to be set to 180° rotation)


• Sprinklers are perpendicular to the surface, such that they are vertical to give a trajectory that is not impeded during operation


• Mismatched sprinklers (nozzle sizes, 360°/180° operating on same zone)


The audit will determine the uniformity of water application to the surface. This usually involves laying out a network of pots or cans, measuring the volume captured in each one and using a standard equation to calculate the distribution uniformity (DU). The higher the DU, the better the irrigation efficiency, with value in excess of 75% DU targeted for a standard sports field system. In the UK this simply means grabbing around twenty pint pots (the ones with handles) from the bar and randomly placing them around the green or pitch area. The irrigation is then switched on for ten minutes. It is


also a simple way to visually show how efficient the distribution of water is. The investigation will check that the actual on-site installation, in particular sprinkler spacing/distance, match the design. This will include checking that sprinklers have matched precipitation in terms of sprinkler brand. The pressure of each sprinkler in the test locations will be tested under normal operating conditions, generally using a standard Pitot gauge. Pressure readings should ideally be recorded at typical scheduling times (e.g. at night) to gain a true representation of the system’s performance, although this is not always practical.


System operation


Having a properly designed and installed system is only half the battle; it is equally important to ensure the system is correctly operated and maintained. The auditing process will check out whether there are accurate and robust systems in place for water use scheduling.


Irrigation scheduling is a


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