A modern irrigation system for a modern racecourse
Sapphire Coast Turf Club is located on a 120 ha site at Kalaru not far from Bega in southeast NSW. There are two tracks at the club: a course proper (turf track) and a sand track.
The Sapphire Coast racecourse proper has a 2000 m circumference with banked turns, an all-round width of 30 m and a 400 m home straight. This is one of the most new and modern country racecourses in the state with great spectator facilities. The irrigation system is used to keep the turf on the course proper in good condition and to suppress dust and maintain density on the sand track.
Irrigation system upgrade
In the past few seasons, the wiring of the club’s 20-year-old irrigation system was found to be reaching the end of its life, and the racecourse managers had to undertake regular and costly maintenance. In 2021, the club commissioned Waterland Irrigation to replace the ageing system.
Brett Amey co-owner of Waterland Canberra said, “The irrigation system was completely upgraded to a Toro Lynx Smart decoder system – only the 100 mm PVC mainline remained in place. We replaced the wiring of the whole system, updating the decoder system, solenoid valves, the sprinklers and the risers.”
The irrigation pump station was also replaced with a custom booster pump constructed by Brown Brothers Engineers.
Some 480 Toro T5 sprinkler heads and 32 solenoid valves were installed on the sand track, 176 Toro Infinity Golf sprinklers on the turf track, with six large Perrot VP3 piston drive sprinklers at the track chutes to cover the larger distance of the chute opening. “The system is much more efficient now, with better irrigated coverage of the sprinklers,” Brett said.
The irrigation pump set draws water from two storage tanks. These tanks are supplied with treated recycled water from the local sewage treatment plant to supplement extraction from a local dam.
The system also has the ability to draw water from the nearby dam when available and if required.
The challenges
One of the biggest challenges with this job was the design and installation of the pump station. Unlike many racecourse pump stations, which are located to the side of the track, the existing storage tanks and pumping location was in the middle of the track. If the new pumps and pump shed were too high, they would obstruct the view across the course.
A Lowara eHM horizontal multistage pump, which has a lower profile than vertical pumps, was not suitable since it would not be big enough for the job. Instead, a custom booster system consisting of vertical multi-stage pumps and an Inca control panel was configured to offer a wide range of flows and flexibility based on the pumping requirements on site.
Two Lowara eSV 33SV05 pumps and one Lowara eSV 22SV07 pump were used. The hydraulics of these pumps, combined with a high-efficiency motor (IE2), mean that they deliver maximum efficiency, lower lifecycle costs and increased energy savings compared with the previous ISO pump.
To avoid obstructing the view and to comply with the specification requirements, the pumps were installed on their sides, and the stainless-steel control panel was custom built at only 600 mm high. In-house custom engineered bases were constructed to support the motors of these horizontally mounted pumps.
Another challenge that Brett had to tackle was to install the telemetry system to supply the storage tanks from two water sources, located on opposing sides of the course. “The design was a bit more complicated than some projects because we were filling up from two water sources – the dam and the recycled water,” Brett said. “We used a telemetry link to communicate between the three pumps. Once a tank is full to a specified level, the next pump takes over”.
The final challenge was to enable that the track was operational for daily track work and race days throughout the entire project.
[Article originally appeared in the Irrigation Australia Journal]