EASTWOOD GOLF CLUB
“In the face of adversity comes
diversity”
Eastwood Golf Club has recently installed a water
desalination plant as part of its multi-pronged strategy to ensure
sufficient water supply to their golf course and bowling greens long
into the future.
Having used mains water since the current golf course
opened in the early sixties, the Eastwood Club had struggled to keep the
course watered over recent years due to the drought and severe water
restrictions.
With supply reduced to storm water runoff, they only had
enough water to maintain tees, greens and surrounds. The lack of
rainfall two years ago meant the Club had to purchase water and have it
trucked in; resulting in many tees being sacrificed for the maintenance
of the greens.
After attending an ARUP seminar in early 2008,
Eastwood’s Vice Captain Brian Lanigan wrote a very detailed report
to his board outlining the Club’s water options.
The Club decided that they needed at least two sources
of water collection and set about constructing a water strategy.
Part of the strategy was to capture as much rainfall as
they could; as a result the natural watercourse which collects run-off
from both sides of Liverpool Rd has been upgraded and
diverted straight into their 28 megalitre dam.
A further step in Eastwoods water strategy was to
organize the collection of stormwater from the carpark, as well as the
clubhouse and maintenance shed roofs into the lake beside the first
green, and the instillation of a pump to transfer the water to the main
dam.
Thanks to these initiatives, natural rainfall now
represents well over 70% of the total water available to the club for
irrigation purposes.
Having already sunk a bore some 16 years ago - only to
find that the water was too saline for their irrigation needs - the Club
enlisted the assistance of Aqueous Solutions.
After tireless work from the Club Captain Rob Osborn,
Vice Captain Brian Lanigan and Course Superintendent Michael Vozzo the
club has now also installed a state-of-the-art water treatment facility
with the capability to pump 50,000 litres of water a day into the
club’s storage dam.
A major deciding factor in the design of the
desalination plant was the 200kg per day solid waste limit the club is
permitted to dispose of.
However Eastwood envisage that they will pump 15
megalitres per annum from the bore, 9 megalitres of stormwater will be
pumped up from their lake on the bottom half of the course and, combined
with their storm water runoff collection, they have taken massive steps
to becoming drought-proof.
A further positive from these initiatives was that due
to the efforts of Treasurer Craig Hunter, the club was able to fund the
major project without applying any additional charges or levies to their
members, and is currently enjoying a growth in membership.
Any club looking at their own water requirements would
be well advised to have a good look at what Eastwood has
accomplished.
Story by Brian Hill
