 WATER PROJECT AT BENTLEIGH BOWLING CLUB. Approximately mid 2007, with the club facing the problem of continuing to maintain the three grass greens in playable condition, ways to overcome the problem were addressed. The club had a working water bore on it’s property which had been installed prior to 1970, however the water it produced was too saline to use on the two bent grass greens, and could only be used sparingly on the tift dwarf green. Tests on the bore water in 2006 confirmed the level of total salts in the water higher than 1,200 parts and hardness too high at 420. The club first investigated desalination, however the disposal of the displaced brine produced from the process, and the cost of the unit and installation, made this alternative not feasible. It was about this time that the club heard about a water treatment process produced by Hydrosmart in Adelaide. Ballarat Golf Club had recently installed a Hydrosmart unit on their bore and were reporting success. After inspecting the golf club, contact was made with Hydrosmart who were most helpful in explaining how their unit worked. The positives were that the water is processed at full flow from its source and produced no waste. However the water once treated cannot be stored for more than two or three days. The treatment unit is also reasonably priced. The club decided to proceed, and overcame the water storage problem by pumping water from the bore into holding tanks, and then from the tanks through the treatment unit directly onto the green via the existing sprinkler system. The treatment unit began full operation at the beginning of January 2008, and mains water was turned off from the greens at that time. After a full year of operation no problems with water treatment have been experienced. The three greens are healthy and the club has produced a saving of over 2,000,000 litres of mains water. Hydrosmart have a very informative web site, and a copy of an article from Golf and Sports Turf magazine, which explains the treatment process, is attached. During January and February 2009, with virtually no rain and very high temperatures. The greens showed lack of colour and growth. It was decided that we were experiencing a salt build up due to lack of flushing by rain, so we instituted a watering schedual of one watering in three via the mains. This cured the problem. We are still experiencing no problems and are enjoying keeping our greens watered and healthy without worrying about water restrictions. (This is a copy of a report that we sent to the Geenkeepers Assocciation of Victoria) Garry Moore |