Safe sports grounds through automatic irrigation

Investing in irrigation lowers maintenance costs

A sports field is at its best when the turf is green and shiny. Player safety is related to this. In fact, a well-watered field guarantees fewer injuries. Ghent-based Hydor has been the market leader in irrigation systems for more than fifty years and offers fully automatic irrigation that brings down your water consumption.

"To keep the natural grass of a soccer field green and perfectly playable, water is needed," Hydor's Bert Van de Weghe quips. "But artificial turf also benefits from regular irrigation to avoid fire injuries. We advise our customers on the purchase and installation for irrigation systems for soccer, field hockey and tennis courts, in addition to our activities in the garden irrigation sector. Investing in the right system for your grounds always pays off in the long run; we strongly believe in that."

Lower maintenance costs

What system you choose depends on your property and your budget. A fully automatic sprinkler system requires a larger initial investment than a stand-alone sprinkler, but will pay off in the short term. Van de Weghe: "To begin with, it is easier to spray at night or in the morning with a sprinkler controller. That way less water evaporates and you don't risk burning your grass in the hot afternoon sun. You also don't have to water daily, which benefits the root growth of your grass carpet. By automatically watering, your turf will last longer and use less water. The biggest savings is in the labor cost: there is no need to drag hoses across the field to spray manually."

For these types of installations, Hydor uses the Perrot Triton flail sprayers. Because of their impressive spray range, you only need about three of them in a playfield. The remaining spray heads come around the field. "Fewer sprinklers in the field means less risk of damage during turf maintenance, and it increases safety for the players. We will provide the recessed sprinklers in the middle of the field with a large rubber grass bowl so that they become truly invisible. This type of sprinklers is also less wind sensitive and can work with less pure water."

Rain when you want it

The latest controls are smart systems that you easily operate remotely. Through integration with weather forecasting applications, your system takes precipitation into account. Thus, an irrigation will not start if significant rain is predicted that day. With the mobile application, a groundsman can also wet the field shortly before a practice or match for optimal playing conditions. The speed of the Perrot spray heads makes this much more convenient than a small turbine sprayer.

Professionally placed

When installing this type of system on sports fields, Hydor pays close attention to the integrity of the turf. Trenches are made for the pipes and sprinklers with a chain excavator that leave little trace afterwards. In some locations, these can even be installed trenchless with a mole plow machine. Van de Weghe: "It is essential to establish a sufficiently large water supply. Next to the field, citerns are dug in and interconnected. 

We connect the site's drainage system to it so that rainwater is automatically collected. A borehole further refills the reservoirs. A heavy submersible pump delivers water through a filter for the sprinklers on the field. So you count on a buffer for periods of water scarcity and your turf is assured of irrigation all year round." Of course, a mobile irrigation system is also possible. The Perrot Rollcart is the ideal device for this.