www.stma.org September 2014 | SportsTurf 35
in the field house and to irrigate the game
day football field.
A new main irrigation line, valves,
decoder system and controller were installed
after the building project was completed.
This system was hooked onto our current
infield piping and irrigation heads. We
installed a Hunter Industries wireless Solar
Sync ET sensor to help with weather moni-
toring, which helps conserve water on the
football field.
City water is used for all of our other
fields and the water quality is not good.
With the city water's high pH, bicarbonates
and sodium issues, the idea of using natu-
ral rain water was quite positive. With any
unique projects we had our reservations but
after a full calendar year of having the system
in tactic it has performed well.
How the collection system works is sim-
ple; the rain water is collected from the roof,
storm drains, and bleachers from the field
house area and funneled by drains into the
concrete 20,000-gallon holding tank under
the field house. Condensate from chiller
and air conditioner units also help feed the
storage tank.
The collection tank was actually dug,
formed and poured with concrete as the
field support structure was being con-
structed. When the tank water level reaches
91 inches, the excess water is diverted to the
storm sewer system that feeds the Grinnell
Country Club ponds. Irrigation for golf
course is pumped out of these ponds. When
a low point level is reached at 34 inches the
system switches to city water by sensors and
Down spouts from field house roof feed the
collection tank.
The field house roof behind the football game field.
