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Water-wise football
first
July
18, 2008
MATE (or is that MAIT?), you've got to admit the blokes and
sheilas at Gympie Regional Council are on the ball when it comes to
being up to date and water-wise.
With water issues becoming a major political football both here
and overseas, councillors this week applied world-leading
irrigation technology to the issue of improving the water
efficiency (and footballing quality) of Gympie's extensive
sportsfields.
"We're everybody's mate," said Andrew Brown of MAIT industries,
which markets and installs automated underground watering systems,
mostly to the irrigation farming sector.
"It's the first time this technology has been used in a
sportsfield anywhere in the world," he told Deputy Mayor Tony
Perrett and Works Committee chairman Larry Friske this week, as he
demonstrated the new installations at the One Mile Football
grounds.
Irrigation farmers, for whom water efficiency is a direct
bottomline issue, have been using the electronic sensor-based
technology for years, Mr Brown said, but its use in sportsfields is
very new.
"We put a sensor in the turf root zone about 15cm down to
determine how much water is in the turf and another in the
underground drainage area to let you know when you've had too
much," he said.
"The sensor is 3m long and works off the average moisture
content over that 3m.
"The system then activates and later, de-activates the watering
system so you get exactly the right amount exactly when the turf
needs it," he said.
"It's not just saving on water by turning it off before it's
wasted, it also gives the grass water exactly when it's needed to
maximise growth," Cr Friske noted.
It was all good news for Football Gympie president Trevor Kirk,
who helped welcome the new technology. Similar ideas will also be
applied at the hockey fields and Jack Stokes Oval, although not all
the new installations will include automatic watering. Some are
there to take measurements and provide information to allow
maintenance officials to turn on the tap manually or monitor water
needs and usage.
Story
from GympieTimes
Soil
monitoring to save water in Council parks
26 February 2008
LEVEL 6 water restrictions across South East Queensland requires
owners and managers of sports fields to ensure efficient use of
town water which has prompted Ipswich City Council to investigate
an innovative moisture sensing system which may provide the perfect
answer in the future.
Conservation, Parks and Sport Committee Chairperson,
Councillor David Morrison, said a pilot program using the
new system, designed by MAIT Industries Pty Ltd, will soon
commence.
The pilot will be on six sports fields including Mark Marsh Oval
in Limestone Park, one field at Ivor Marsden Memorial Park, the
recently revived field at Briggs Road, one field at Jim Finimore
Park, one soccer field at Redbank Plains Recreational Reserve and
one soccer field at Suttons Park.
"The system we are installing is designed to monitor soil
moisture of the sports fields in real time.
"Essentially, the system is a soil moisture sensor which is
permanently installed in the root zone of the field and measures
the wetting and drying at the root zone of the turf.
"The system is wired into the irrigation controller so that
irrigation only occurs when soil moisture levels indicate
irrigation is required.
"This ensures that irrigation only occurs when needed and only
in volumes needed to provide the desired
outcome.
"During times of severe water restrictions, the outcome is to
keep the grass alive and provide a safe playing
surface."
Cr Morrison said additional items to be installed included water
flow meters to log the volume of irrigation and rain switches
which turn the irrigation off in the event of rain during an
irrigation cycle.
"Powerful irrigation scheduling software will allow
Council to set up complex irrigation schedules that would otherwise
be difficult or labour intensive.
"This could then be controlled from the computer base or from
the field."
Deputy Mayor and Division 3 Councillor Victor
Attwood said the system was designed with an open
framework, for both hardware and software, allowing it to grow and
evolve over time to suit Council's requirements.
"We have also done extensive soil testing on all of our fields
and believe that where we have similar soil types across one series
of fields we can get a reading from one installed unit and water
all of the fields according to that reading.
"We believe the new system will save the Council on watering
costs as well as improving efficiency. A one megalitre saving
across all of our irrigated fields would save $52,500 a year alone,
therefore allowing the system to pay for itself in a very short
time," Cr Attwood said. | 