Flood-prone golf course receives a trailer-mounted pump set

South-east Queensland's Beenleigh RSL and Golf Club is renowned for its stunning, undulating 18-hole golf course, complete with natural water hazards. However, regular flooding poses a problem for the course managers, often causing damage to both the course as well as its irrigation infrastructure.

The course irrigation pump station was recently upgraded by Brown Brothers Engineers and Nutrien Water (Nerang) with a custom-made mobile booster set that can be transported to higher ground in the event of flooding.

Devastating flood complete with toads

With the golf course located next to the Albert River, floods are a regular occurrence with the most recent flood in February 2022 particularly devastating to the course. With irrigation infrastructure costly to replace and insurance expenses rising, an innovative solution was required.

This was no more evident than during the recent flood when the pump shed was left completely submerged underwater, and the suction line was washed more than 100m away from the shed. Although the shed was repaired through replacement of the electrical panels and the suction line was located, course staff still encountered a further issue when it came time to priming the new system.

Jason Lavender, course superintendent said, “We dragged the suction line back, put it in water and attempted to prime it but it seemed to be blocked. We investigated and found cane toads in the line!”.

A new system is planned

The primary, run-off fed dam on site is the source of the course’s irrigation water. It is supported by a secondary dam that is set up to feed it water if required.

Before the major February flood, Brown Brothers Engineers in conjunction with Nutrien Water had already designed a new pump system, which was scheduled for installation in early March. This ended up being exactly one week after the flooding.

For several years, the course had relied on a mobile solution for the existing pump set however, it had become cumbersome and inefficient meaning a change was needed, Jason said. “The old pumps were on a platform on wheels that needed eight people to get it out in rising water and hook it up to a vehicle to tow it. And flood waters rise fast here! In the recent flood, we did get it out of the pump shed, but we had more rain than was forecast, and it turned out that we didn’t move it high enough – it ended up going under.”

According to Jason, it wasn’t just the issues around the mobility of the system; the current pump set was only operating at about 50 percent capacity, indicating it was time for a change. This meant a completely new system was needed.

The mobile solution

When Steve Moncrieff, project manager for Nutrien Water in Nerang, was contacted by the Beenleigh RSL and Golf Club, he sought advice from Brown Brothers Engineers regarding the design of a trailer-mounted pump.

As a solution they developed a trailer-mounted custom dual booster set with jockey pump, complete with INCA control panel. In case of flooding, the pump set was designed to be readily disconnected and relocated to higher ground if necessary.

The Lowara e-SV Series pump, renowned for its hydraulics and high-efficiency motor (IE2), was chosen by the team to provide maximum efficiency and lower lifecycle costs. Along with the pumps, an INCA control panel was also mounted on the trailer, enabling better system control and the flexibility of a BBE technical on-site support.

The control panel for the booster set was installed on the trailer using a quick-release Clipsal three-pin electrical connection, meaning course staff can quickly and safely shut off the power to the panel and transport the entire pump unit in the event of flooding.

According to Steve from Nutrien, who oversaw the installation of the new pump system (by Prolinks), there were no significant issues with the installation. “The main difference to a traditional system is that it was a bit higher off the ground than usual, being on the trailer. Brown Brothers took this into consideration in the design to ensure there was no vibration or movement. But essentially the methodology is no different to installing a pump set in a shed.”

Jason claimed that in comparison to the old setup, the new system is considerably more user-friendly. “The pumps can be moved by two people in 15 minutes. It’s just a process of hitching the trailer to a vehicle and towing it to higher ground.” If flooding is predicted, they will simply move the trailered pump set to another shed near the clubhouse which stands above the flood zone.

Irrigation capability doubles

With the new system, the course's irrigation capability has more than doubled, going from a maximum of 12 to 13 stations with the old system to 33 stations comfortably with the new Lowara system. A Rainbird control system manages the valves. The expansion of stations will considerably reduce the course's irrigation window, conserving power and allowing course managers more control over when and how they irrigate.

When asked about the toads, Jason doesn’t see this as being an issue in the future. “We don’t expect this to happen in future, providing the suction pipe doesn’t get washed away. We learn from our mistakes, I guess!”

What about the future

Local council representatives and managers of other golf courses have already visited the location to learn more about the club’s new trailer-mounted pump system. While the mobile trailer-mounted system is the first of its kind that Steve has worked on, he anticipates that we’ll see more of them in the future: “This is not something that has been done much before, simply because it’s not the traditional approach and it hasn’t occurred to people to do it. I think it could become an option for many flood-prone golf courses and sports grounds.”