SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/45791
market today. Many of the new products avail- able today do not require much or any effort above and beyond traditional installation prac- tices and offer a reasonable timeframe for re- turn on investment. While exploring any upgrade solutions, strong consideration should be paid to getting site pressure as close to optimum as possible for the sprinkler types to be used. Pressure is as im- portant as proper spacing to achieve the great- est possible efficiency in any system. High pressure is as much an enemy to efficiency as low pressure and should be a priority regarding initial design or existing system evaluations. There are a wide variety of solutions on the market today to address high pressure. Pressure can be easily adjusted at the valve with an add- on regulator that allows the installer to select the ideal pressure the sprinkler requires. Addi- tionally, many manufacturers offer pop-up spray sprinklers with built-in pressure regula- tors pre-set to optimum nozzle requirements or a simple add on pressure regulator at the valve can be an easy solution. The simplest form of water conservation upgrade can be a wireless rain sensor, which saves an average 10% of water use. On the high end of control upgrades are "smart" irriga- tion controllers that adjust irrigation schedules on a daily basis depending on weather condi- tions. Studies have shown smart controllers can save up to 30% of water use depending on prior management practices. New products are arriving on the market that are more cost effective and user friendly, making smart con- trollers an easier sell, especially on residential projects. Replacing existing spray nozzles with rotary nozzles, such as MP Rotators, or incorporating them into a new system design provides greater water savings and drastically increased effi- ciency. In many cases, rotary nozzles can be successful in improving poorly performing spray systems due to low pressure. Because ro- tary nozzles require less water to operate, they have the advantage of reducing friction losses in an existing system and improving the oper- ating pressure at the head. Additionally, due to lower water requirements of the nozzles, more area can be irrigated with fewer zones, reducing system costs with fewer valves, smaller con- troller sizes, less pipe, wire, fittings, and labor. Drip tubing with pre-installed, in-line emitters offers substantial advantages over tra- ditional irrigation methods in not only water savings, but also time and cost considerations. In many cases the tubing can be simply "snaked" through planters and then mulched over. Winterization can be a snap by incorpo- rating threaded caps on line ends that can be removed for blow out. On any projects with elevation changes, check valves should be installed, at the very minimum, on the lowest heads. One hundred feet of 1-inch pipe on single zone can waste 4 gallons of water per zone cycle through low- head drainage. On a 12-zone system, that equates to 48 gallons per irrigation day. Be- yond saving water, check valves will also pro- tect the sprinkler from the water hammer that occurs every time the valve turns on and water rushes to fill the empty lateral line, greatly in- creasing sprinkler longevity. One last note when working on improve- ment of older existing systems: sprinklers should be reset to proper grade level, screens cleaned, and nozzles replaced. Nozzles on both spray heads and rotors will wear over time and lower the ability for water to be sprayed effi- ciently. It is a good idea to check with your local irrigation distributor to see if there are newer, more efficient nozzles available for exist- ing, installed sprinklers. ■ www.stma.org SportsTurf 41