Pitch irrigation is essential in top flight sport, in order that playing surfaces are maintained in top condition. Envireau Water has recently undertaken a number of high profile sports related projects.

We successfully developed a borehole water supply to provide water for a new irrigation system at a Premier Division football club’s training ground. The difference between success and failure in the premiership relies on attention to every detail. The availability of irrigation water will extend the opportunity for training on grass at the beginning and end of each season and reduce the number of injuries from playing on hard, worn pitches; a potentially massive advantage.

A comprehensive trial borehole drilling and pumping program was carried out to determine the potential yield and quality of groundwater. This was found to be acceptable and a decision was made to proceed with two production boreholes to provide water directly to a storage tank feeding a large sprinkler system.

The use of mains water for irrigation can be prohibitively expensive. In this case, the cost could be in excess of £500 per day. The borehole water supply provides water at about 1/100th the cost of mains water. However it must be remembered that the irrigation system is not only the pump, tanks and distribution system. It is also the borehole, the aquifer and the abstraction licence.

Envireau Water’s specialist expertise in borehole design, water quality assessment and our tenacious approach to Environment Agency negotiation were key factors in the success of this project.