Sunday, November 20, 2016

Methods Of Golf Course Irrigation

By Virginia Bennett


Irrigation refers to the process of applying controlled quantity of water to plants at regular intervals. The act of using artificial means to supply water to crops has been in existence for several centuries now. Some of the earliest civilizations such as ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and the Roman Empire thrived on their ability to irrigate crops to boost agricultural productivity.

A lot of changes have been made to the old methods that were used to irrigate. Modern methods are driven by technology and are more effective. The advancements in methods of irrigation have also led to an addition to the uses of irrigation. Besides supporting plant growth, lands are also irrigated to maintain the landscape. Golf course irrigation is an example where irrigating is done for the purpose of landscape maintenance as opposed to supporting the growth and development of crops.

Other reasons for irrigating land are to prevent the growth of weeds and to revegetate soils in arid areas. Additional reasons are prevention of consolidation of soil and protection of plants from frost. Systems used to deliver water can also be used for multiple purposes. For instance, they are used in mining, dust suppression, and sewage disposal.

There are three types of irrigation and all of them can be used to irrigate golf courses. The three types of irrigating methods are surface irrigating, in-ground irrigating, and sub-surface irrigating. Surface irrigating is the commonest method in use. Surface irrigating involves installing irrigating systems and infrastructure above the ground. Sprinklers are good examples of surface irrigating systems. Sprinkler systems are use a lot on golf courses because they are convenient and effective.

Sub-surface irrigating is used rarely because of the way it works. Water supply to the ground is achieved through raising the water table. The water table in turn moistens the ground in which plants are grown. Moisture regulation is attained through drainage infrastructure that is incorporated into the landscape. Some of the places where this method is commonly used are permanent grasslands and along river banks.

In in-ground irrigating system, all of the systems used for supplying water to the grass are buried below the ground. The pipes, sprinklers, irrigating valves, and emitters are all hidden below the ground. This allows for the achievement of a cleaner and more presentable landscape that does not have any items that need to be moved around manually. However, maintenance is usually a problem in this system because the landscape may need to be dug to access the systems.

Irrigating systems are usually divided into different zones and the various zones are interconnected using pipes and tubes. The reason for dividing the system into zone is to achieve the required level of pressure. Without dividing the course into zones, it would be hard to achieve the required pressure to supply water to the whole area at once.

Each zone has its water supply regulated via a solenoid valve. The water is further regulated through an irrigation controller. The irrigating controller determines the period of time the water is applied and to which zone the water is applied.




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