Field Of Streams: The booming business of sports turf irrigation

When the U.S. Women's Soccer team won the 1999 World Cup, one group quietly rejoicing must have been sports turf irrigation professionals. This rare breed of irrigator knew that the victory would further spike participation in a sport already growing by staggering proportions. New soccer players mean the need for more fields, and more fields equal more new irrigation systems that must be installed.

Sports turf irrigation, particularly involving soccer fields, has been a booming business lately. "Soccer is growing 60 percent faster than the population. So these areas where they've had a tremendous boom in population, like the Southwest, the number of fields going in has dramatically increased. We're in a boom that is not going to slow down for some time," said Larry Musser, president, PRZ Consulting, Denver.

Most noteworthy, Musser said, is the government funding that's been pouring in for construction of new fields. "Money has come from bond issues for schools and cities, and grants for soccer came from the World Cup when it was in the U.S.," Musser said. Also, governments under increased pressure to improve the environment have been allocating more money to creating green space.

"California passed a $10-billion bond issue for parks last year and that money just hit July 1. Even smaller cities have millions of dollars to work with all of a sudden. The majority of the money is being used for athletic fields because the cities have to keep up with the increased participation," Musser added.

A HAPPY MEDIUM.The sports boom has been a particular windfall for Walter Mugavin, owner, Aqua Mist Irrigation, South Hackensack, N.J., who several years ago began focusing his company on the sports field irrigation market.

"There's a lot of competition in the residential market and prices are a little too low. We needed to be going after a little more of these higher end jobs," Mugavin said.

Mugavin, who also tried his hand at golf course irrigation, said sports fields represent a happy medium between complicated, long-duration golf course jobs and lower revenue residential work. "It is definitely different than doing a residence, and not every irrigation contractor that does a residence can go out and do a ball field." Billings for an irrigation system installation on a single sports field can range from $30,000 to $100,000 and require four to five days' work, Mugavin said. A multi-field complex can yield increased dollars.

Making the transition to sports field irrigation isn't without peril, however, Mugavin cautioned. For instance, pricing sports field irrigation can be a high-risk endeavor for a first-timer. "To (make money) on your first one, I think, is virtually impossible because you are always probably going to assume that you could do something faster or better than in actuality," Mugavin said. Further complicating pricing installations is the requirement for contractors serving municipal and state clients to pay a prevailing wage. "When you are doing work for a government, it's a prevailing wage job. All of a sudden, some of your people's salary just tripled. When it is costing you $1,700 a day to send a crew out and you are onsite two days longer than you planned for, you just lost $3,400, not to mention the overhead. So there goes $5,000 right out of your pocket," Mugavin said.

There's no secret to developing prices for sports field irrigation, Mugavin said, but contractors should make a careful evaluation of the site - especially to determine how rocky the soil is and how much time will be required to lay irrigation line - and err on the side of overestimating the time and labor that will be required to complete the job.

Musser said in the Denver market he sees prices range from 35 to 65 cents a square foot for an irrigation system installed on a sports field.

DESIGN/INSTALLATION. The basic design and installation principles of any turf irrigation system still apply to sports fields, however, sports turf irrigation entails a host of idiosyncrasies that must be learned.

Because the fields are frequently in use for athletic competition, sports fields have short time windows when watering can be completed. Therefore, equipment must be used that can put down the most water allowable in the shortest amount of time. This need for high volume requires the use of larger, industrial-grade spray heads, 3- and 4-inch PVC pipe, ductile iron pipe and the use of rebar and thrust blocks - components with which not all residential and light commercial irrigation contractors are comfortable.

Sports field irrigation contractors must also bury mainlines sometimes as deep as 2 feet and service lines/laterals 18 inches deep to avoid penetration from the deep tine aerators that are typically used to maintain sports fields.

Running irrigation zones across a field, rather than down the field is another common error that must be avoided.

"The problem with that is the wear on a field takes place down the middle," Musser said. "Areas that are worn compact first and the water evaporates off these compacted areas or moves off to the sides."

Further, most football fields are crowned in the middle, meaning water naturally drains to the sides. With an irrigation system running across the field, you can't isolate watering to the middle of the field. As a result, to put enough water in the middle, means virtually flooding of the sides of the field.

On a soccer field, most wear takes place right in front of the goal in the 6 by 6 foot area the goalie roams. As a result, each goalie box may require its own zone, depending on the amount of use on the field. Musser also suggests using flooding to pre-settle soil around irrigation lines and components, rather than using hand compaction.

"Use a hand hose with a thin pipe on the end, and push it down into the soil to get water in there deeper and flood the area around the head or line. Flood the whole trench, saturate it with water, let it settle and refill it." This way the area will settle before turf is on the field and you'll avoid depressions and color inconsistencies in the field.

Musser also suggests laser-grading areas around all the heads to make sure that the irrigation installation process hasn't disturbed the grade of the field.

INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCEAfter the irrigation is installed on a sports field, irrigation contractors may be called upon to inspect and maintain the system. Jim Reed, president, ABC Sports Turf, Houston, said common maintenance issues include leaky rotors, control valves and attached line broken by heavy equipment, risers that don't retract into the spray head and leaks in lines.

According to Sports Fields: A Manual For Design Construction And Maintenance, a variety of checks can be completed on sports turf irrigation systems, including: