Bigger Beechworth Project November 2009

Baarmutha Park Sports Field Assessment

Attachment 3

Indigo Shire Council Beechworth Sportsfield Assessment

Baarmutha Park, Balaclava Road Beechworth August 2009

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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………2 OBSERVATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………...2 TURF CONSULTANT COMMENTS………………………………………………………………………...3 SPORTS LIGHTING COMMENTS………………………………………………………………………….10 IRRIGATION ASSESSMENT REPORT……………………………………………………………………17 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………………….32 APPENDIX 1 - SOIL TEST RESULTS APPENDIX 2 - HUNTER I41 ROTARY SPRINKLERS APPENDIX 3 - IRRIGATION DESIGN

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BAARMUTHA PARK

INTRODUCTION Baarmutha Park is located on Balaclava Road Beechworth on the north side of town. The sportsfield is situated in the middle of Baarmutha Park, surrounded by an 18 hole golf course with sand scrape greens. 2MH Consulting and a select team of specialist advisors have reviewed some of the major infrastructure and facilities at Baarmutha Park. This report has been prepared to outline the current condition of the existing infrastructure, to highlight areas of improvement – specifically from a maintenance and capital works perspective. Input from the following advisors has been critical to the preparation of this report –

• Turf – Craig Evans, C & M Evans • Sports Lighting – Brad Ericson, Bewired • Irrigation – Mark Chivilo, McCrackens Water Services

OBSERVATIONS The sportsfield is generally in a good condition; however a concentrated maintenance regime that focuses on turf health and improvement, accompanied with regular maintenance of the irrigation system would be of great benefit to sustain a suitable and usable sports surface. Unfortunately, the irrigation system has some problems which prevent it from performing to its maximum capacity. In some places it fails to meet the turf grass needs at the site.

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TURF CONSULTANT COMMENTS As prepared by Craig Evans -

Certificate of Proficiency in Turf Management. Advanced Certificate in Turf Management. Associate Diploma in Turf Management. Member AGCSA and VGCSA.

Soil analysis The soil analysis results (see appendix 1) show that the balance of nutrients present is almost ideal for growing healthy turf. The only amendments suggested are to apply Magnesium at 69 kg/Ha (Epsom Salt) and Mono Ammonium Phosphate at 50 kg/Ha. This will correct the deficiencies at the present time. It is important to fertilise the turf at least every 8 weeks, so the turf is strong and robust and able to withstand traffic and defend itself against diseases. It is evident that the ground is suffering from low fertility (yellowing of the leaf blade) and red thread, which is brought about by a nitrogen deficiency. This is why I have included Nitrogen as ammonium in the recommendations. I commonly recommend Pivot 400 or 800 as a good all round cost effective maintenance fertiliser. The rate of application is 80 to 100kg/Ha every 8 weeks as a minimum for best results.

• Generally the turf health is O.K. Some improvements to the soil structure to assist with

drainage would be of great benefit and more regular fertilising is suggested.

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• The picture above shows the discoloration of the turf – yellow grass blades are clearly evident.

Irrigation water and general comments on irrigation The quality of the irrigation water would seem very good as the sodium, sulphur, iron, bicarbonates and chloride are all recording as reasonable amounts in the soil test results. The quality of irrigation water is always a determination of what your soil will become, bad water = bad soil. A water test would tell us exactly where the irrigation water quality sits - but we don’t feel it is necessary at this time. From a turf management perspective, the design of the irrigation system is very good, but it appears that the spacing’s of the sprinkler heads are not consistent with the design which results in uneven watering or wet and dry patches across the field. It is also evident that some maintenance is required to repair various damaged sprinklers and to rectify low and crooked heads as this can seriously affect their performance. In the short term a detailed audit of the system before the next watering season is imperative so as to enable a comprehensive maintenance regime to occur.

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Drainage After running the irrigation system for a short time to assess its performance, there was a lot of surface water and ponding of water occurring. This is due to the compacted soil and poor drainage in general. I would recommend some soil aeration in spring to strengthen the grass plant roots and help water penetration during the watering season. Aeration is a valuable tool to keep the turf healthy and to save water. If deep watering is achievable, then the plant roots will grow deeper to access it and promote a more drought tolerant plant. This will result in watering less often and deliver healthier turf. Verti draining is the most effective aeration tool for sportsfields as it is able to penetrate to 200 to 300mm. It may be necessary to install some drainage throughout the ground in the future but we suggest working on rectifying compaction firstly to see how much is required.

• The water pooling above occurred after only 4 minutes of irrigation. This highlights the

drainage issues at the site and raises the question about the overall turf health and drought tolerance of the turf.

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• The Verti-Drain penetrates the turf surface and as the tines exit the soil profile they are removed

on an angle fracturing the soil structure.

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Future ideas To aid in the percolation of water into and through the soil profile we have installed at other sites (as part of the irrigation system) a water injection unit to enable wetting agents and soil penetrants to be added to the irrigation water. We have had a number of sites where this system has been implemented - with good results. This system allows low rates of soil penetrants or wetting agents to be directly added to the irrigation water, helping to relieve surface tension and to improve hydrophobic soil. The implementation of this approach results in better use of the irrigation water and helps achieve the goals already mentioned. An irrigation injection system can be installed for about $4000.00. We have been made aware that extremely high amounts of irrigation water has been applied to the site over the previous summer. It is our belief that a vast percentage of this water has been wasted because the compacted soil forces excessive run-off and very little benefit was gained during the irrigating, with the grass roots missing out on the water it so desperately needs. Due to the recent drought conditions, many turf areas are now being planted out with couch grass. This is because of the couch’s low water use and high quality surface. We have seen some terrific results in climates similar to Beechworth by planting a mixture of couch and fine fescue for year round performance. High maintenance areas (such as around fence lines) can be sprayed around with a mixture of roundup and simonize to give weed control for up to 6 months. Re-seed any bare areas after football season to achieve grass cover by the end of spring.

• The picture above demonstrates the use of “Round-up” (Glyphosate) as a control for weed /

grass growth. Adding “Simazine” (a pre-emergent herbicide) to the spray mix will give baron and neat soil for up to 6 months.

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• The sportsfield needs regular top dressing to prevent low lying sections of the playing field like

this holding water.

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• Generally, the sportsfield at Baarmutha Park is in pretty good condition and it has the potential

to be a fantastic ground – with the correct maintenance and turf management operations.

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SPORTS LIGHTING COMMENTS As prepared by Brad Ericson – OVERVEIW Bewired was engaged to review the electrical installation at the Baarmutha Park. We visited the site and looked at key areas in regards to the electrical installation, the areas were: The floodlighting around the oval The mains cable between the site main switchboard and the football pavilion The switchboard within the pavilion The floodlighting around existing 2 netball courts Our objective was to identify areas that could be re-used or salvaged with the outlook to making upgrades to the pavilion. Also, to identify areas required to be upgraded to make alterations to the pavilion and also to provide sufficient lighting to the football oval and netball courts. REVIEW OF INSTALLATION Floodlighting to football oval A lux test was carried out across the sportsfield and it was found that the current tower lighting provided an average of 5 lux of lighting across the oval. The lighting towers are supplied by two underground conduits which come from the pavilion and run directly to the closest two towers. From there, another conduit runs from each tower, behind each of the sets of goals to the towers on the opposite side of the ground to the pavilion. The light fittings are an “open face” type fitting with control gear mounted at the base of the pole.

• The old style control gear can be seen in the photograph above.

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It should be noted that Australian Standards 2560.2.3 requires the minimum levels to light a football oval to be 50 lux. This level of lighting is adequate to conduct training drills. To play club competition games, the lighting levels are required to be at an average of 100 lux across the sportsfield. To achieve the base level of 50 lux, the current system and any part of it could not be used at all. The underground conduits, cables, poles, light fittings and controls would all be required to be upgraded. A tower height of 20 meters would be the minimum required for this standard and a minimum of two lights per tower would be required. This would also require new conduits and cables to be installed underground as well as necessary building permits and soil testing to be done. New towers, crossarms and light fittings would be required and a complete new control system needed.

• The picture above shows the lights in operation at night – the photo taken using the night

function on the camera. The picture on the following page gives a more realistic impression of the lighting systems poor performance when the photograph is taken using the normal camera setting.

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• Football training under these lights would be very difficult.

Parts of the current system are deemed to be un-safe. In particular the control gear that is mounted at the base of each pole has live electrical parts that are currently easily accessible to the public. Also, the switches in the switchboard (located in the football clubrooms) have exposed live parts. This is a genuine safety risk and should be assessed fully and rectified immediately. Mains cable from the main switchboard to the pavilion The current mains cable runs between the meter panel/main switchboard, located near the fence on the southern end on the property, directly to the pavilion which is a run of approximately 130 meters. This cable is a 2-phase, 35mm cable installed underground in 50mm orange conduit. Its current maximum capacity is 63 amps. It was noted that at the main switchboard, 3 phase power is available however the electricity meter would be required to be upgraded in conjunction with the current electricity retailer to enable the site to make use of 3-phase power. We have calculated that this mains cable and conduit would need to be upgraded to a larger size if the lighting and pavilion was to be upgraded. In regards to the lighting, 3 phase power is essential to balance load and have the capacity to run more light fittings. Appliances within the pavilion, such as cooking and heating appliances would also benefit from 3 phase power as no natural gas is available. 3 phase appliances and equipment are more efficient compared 1 or 2 phase equipment.

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A 3 phase, 50mm cable would be required to supply the pavilion as well as the upgraded lighting system. This would be rated at 100 amps per phase and be sufficient to run electrical appliances and equipment including floodlights in conjunction with using bottled gas for some heating or cooking.

• This is the main switchboard where the power supply is metered and enters the site.

Switchboard within the current pavilion An inspection was made of the existing switchboard within the football pavilion. It was found to be extremely unsafe. In particular, there is exposed live terminals with electrical tape covering them which is potentially life threatening. Pavilion lights and floodlights are operated by turning on main switches within the switchboard. This poses a risk at night after turning lights off and then climbing over the couch placed in front of the switchboard or disturbing the broom handle which holds the door of the switchboard up. It should be noted that at the time of the review, we covered the most dangerous hazards of the switchboard with blank fuse wedges.

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• This switchboard located within the football club rooms is a serious concern. Note the broom

handle to the right holding the door open, and the sections of electrical tape covering live electrical terminals.

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Floodlights around existing netball courts. A lux level test was carried out on both netball courts and found the court closest to the roadway has an average of 56 lux and the court closest to the football oval has an average of 71 lux. These levels do not meet Australian Standards which requires 100 lux for training and 200 lux for competition. To achieve these levels, an upgrade of the light fittings only would be required. The existing light poles could be used in the same position. Cables, conduits and controls could also be re-used if an upgrade was to occur.

• The netballers in action under lights at Baarmutha Park.

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Reference material used in the compilation of the above electrical / lighting report: AS/NZS 3000:2007 Wiring Rules AS/NZS 3008.1.1:1998 Electrical Installations – Cable Selection AS 2560 Sports Lighting Estimates of cost to rectify the problems and to introduce improvements are: Installation of new floodlighting to oval - $100K + GST Upgrade of mains cable to pavilion including metering - $35K + GST Upgrade of the switchboard within the pavilion - $10K + GST Upgrade lighting on both netball courts - $15K + GST Should further information be required please contact Brad Ericson on 0419 521 498.

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IRRIGATION ASSESSMENT REPORT As prepared by Mark Chivilo – Bachelor of Agricultural Science, at the University Of Melbourne. IAL Certified Irrigation Designer Agricultural Drip Micro ADM 2504 IAL Certified Irrigation Designer Landscape Turf Commercial LTC 2504 IAL Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor Diploma of Irrigation With 18 years of experience, Mark is involved in full irrigation projects for vineyards, olive groves, vegetables, nurseries and commercial and turf projects. Other projects also include water harvesting, water treatment and pumping stations. Mark is fully trained in AutoCad. Mark also takes part in constant industry training. The irrigation system at Baarmutha Park is in the most part a good system. It has been well designed and good quality parts and components supplied and installed. It does however appear that possibly the set out of the sprinkler placements was sub-standard with large spaces between several sprinkler heads stretching the systems operating capabilities. It appears that regular, on-going maintenance has not been conducted by a suitably skilled irrigation contractor. Many of the performance issues discovered at the site could be rectified in 1 or 2 days by a couple of skilled irrigation contractors who understand the design and installation of such a system. At the completion of the maintenance works the system would operate much better and have a greater positive impact upon the turf health. Particularly when coupled with the turf works recommended, the sportsfield surface could improve vastly. Testing Each station of the irrigation system was manually tested on the sportsfield. We measured the spaces between most of the sprinkler heads. We observed sprinkler performance, and operating pressures. We tested the controller and each solenoid valve.

• Each of the sprinklers were tested with a pressure gauge and a “pitot” to see what pressure was being achieved at the sprinkler head.

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Current scenario Sprinklers

• Hunter 1-41 stainless steel turret sprinklers installed on the sportsfield. Average spacing was 15-18m spacing, which is consistent with the specified performance for these sprinklers.

• Sprinkler pressure at the nozzle was tested on most lines, and at the end sprinkler on the line. • An average pressure of 450 kPa was found for the end sprinklers and this is comfortably within the

ideal operating specifications. • Zone 1 had a sprinkler nozzle missing, thus affecting the pressure pitot test for this sprinkler. • Zone 10 had a few sprinklers with a spacing of 24m between heads. • Many sprinkler heads were not level and plumb. • Many of the sprinkler heads were damaged.

• Several of the sprinklers were spaced too far apart to irrigate effectively, and as this picture

shows the sprinkler in the background is not functioning correctly because of its nozzle not being correctly fitted.

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• Generally the irrigation system functioned well with the pump providing more than adequate

pressures.

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Controller The controller is a RainBird ESP LX 16 station controller. It was found to be fully operational and in good working order.

• The irrigation controller – housed in a small storeroom.

Solenoid valves Comments on the installation of the solenoid valves could not be made as the valves were buried under the turf in the middle of the oval, and could not be located. The valves did however operate correctly via the irrigation controller. Many of the systems we work with are constructed with a ring main that places all of the solenoid valves in plastic irrigation boxes outside of the boundary line. This helps for easy locating, testing and maintenance – as opposed to this system which has the solenoids housed underground through the middle of the field.

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IRRIGATION RECOMMENDATIONS Sprinklers For correct system operation, the following should be addressed immediately.

• All sprinklers to be checked to ensure they have the correct nozzle installed, nozzle 43 as per the plan for construction.

• The nozzle adjustment screw is properly adjusted to give a proper spray pattern. • Sprinklers are set plumb, ie level, so as not to throw short and downwards at one side and too high at

an angle on the opposing side, and thus affecting diameter. • Broken tops are replaced, so as not to cause injury to players and park users. • Where sprinkler spacing exceeds say 24m between heads, perhaps another sprinkler can be installed

in between the existing heads. This may affect the precipitation rate for that area, so nozzle changes on that line and surrounding lines may need to be altered. This may however affect performance and coverage. A balance should be reached.

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• While a little difficult to see, this picture shows the grub screw in the top of the sprinkler head

(which is used to hold the nozzle in place) wound too far down. When this is done the grub screw interferes with the spray pattern and performance of the nozzle. The sprinkler cannot throw the correct distance it is designed to perform to.

• The picture above is a good example of how a sprinkler performs with the grub screw wound

down too far.

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• This sprinkler can’t possibly perform correctly. It has been damaged (with its rubber top

removed and plastic top section broken) by mowing equipment, and it is leaning too much. The trajectory of its spray would not assist it to water effectively.

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• This sprinkler is too low and on a lean which would have a massive impact on its performance.

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• While undertaking the irrigation assessment at least 10 sprinklers were found to be damaged

like this. The rubber protective cap was removed and the plastic top so damaged that an extremely sharp, fractured section was raised. This could cause considerable damage to a footballers knee if the player was to slide into it.

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• Another damaged sprinkler top.

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• Simply straightening this sprinkler and ensuring that it has the correct nozzle installed will

make a big difference to its performance.

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• These two sprinklers were spaced approximately 24 metres apart. This particular design

shouldn’t have sprinklers spaced greater than about 18 metres (ideally). Looking at this picture it is hard to believe that these 2 sprinklers are on the same line.

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• Another example of a sprinkler on a poor alignment. It is also installed too low, the nozzle is

not performing correctly and too much grass is left growing directly around it effecting its operation.

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• A picture of the water storage and the pump shed.

Many of the above recommendations should be part of a scheduled maintenance program, with works being carried out at least once a month. This would include a monthly system test with any poor sprinkler alignments to be rectified, nozzle spray pattern adjusted so that correct coverage is maintained. Controller Correct run times should be adhered to and may need to be looked at for this site. On the simple tests we did there seemed to be a lot of water pooling on the ground. If this is due to poor soil infiltration rates, then the irrigation scheduling should be altered to prevent this from occurring. Excessive water on the ground is a poor result in terms of safety, wasting water and also poor for soil and turf management. A properly functioning rain sensor should also form part of all works, to again ensure that an irrigation event does not occur if it is raining, or a rain event has occurred. Solenoid Valves Due to the system being constructed the way it has, the solenoid valve assemblies cannot be moved off the playing surface. The valves should be located, identified and marked to make maintenance easier. Ideally the design of the system should have been done with a ring main around the boundary with the solenoid valve assemblies being installed off the playing surface. This is from a safety and also maintenance perspective. Ideally, the solenoid valves should also have been preceded by an equally sized isolating valve, so that any zone problems can be isolated without affecting the rest of the system.

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Installation With the problematic breaking of pipe in the ground, correct diagnosis is difficult, unless all details are at hand. Certainly water and air entrapment in the pipeline can cause system problems if correct installation is not adhered to. Using a 50mm RRJ PVC mainline, all changes in directions and at tees, elbows and ends should have had properly constructed thrust blocks installed. If the breakages are on the lateral pipes, then perhaps inadequate coverage of the pipe, incorrect bedding of the pipe or incorrect pipe class may have been used, or correct solvent cement and gluing procedures were not carried out. Air in the pipework may lead to the pipe splitting along its length, but pipe and fittings breakages may be due to poor installation works. Thrust blocks were not checked in this audit, due to it being a hit and miss affair after the installation has gone in. The best time to check for these items is at a hold point during the installation process as part of the project management. Overall, with a proper maintenance schedule this irrigation system can operate effectively. The water storage and the pumping system did not form part of this assessment – However, during testing of the sprinklers it was observed that the submersible pump operated to better than expected pressures and is ideal for this irrigation system.

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DISCUSSION & RECOMMENDATIONS Baarmutha Park sportsground is a sportsfield with great potential. The only real negative about this facility is the on-going maintenance and turf management which appears to just lack the professional edge that a facility like this requires. The general concepts of the irrigation system are in line with what the consultants would consider to be a satisfactory to good system. However, some of the problems are considerable, and they will forever prevent the turf from reaching its full potential without rectification. A summary of the irrigation issues follows: • Incorrect spacing of some sprinklers—difficult to rectify easily or cheaply. • Mixture of nozzles throughout the surface—no continuity and many nozzles not installed correctly, and

some are actually missing. • Many sprinklers are broken and unsafe. A large percentage of them are installed poorly, leaning to one

side and not spraying correctly. Some of the finer and more technical elements of a maintenance regime are not being correctly addressed. Sprinkler head levelling and alignments are minor issues that can be easily rectified. It would be advisable to spend at least one day addressing this. The lighting and electrical issues uncovered at the site are significant and do pose a true threat to life in some instances. Design and quoting of the desired electrical improvements and upgrades should occur immediately. The timing is ideal now that the pavilion upgrades have been proposed, for a total upgrade of the electrical supply to the site. At the very least this should be done as a first stage of works with the potential to expand to improved lighting at the sports ground and the netball courts as additional stages of works. We have worked with an electrical and lighting consultant who would be ideal for the preparation of designs for the necessary upgrade works required at Baarmutha Park - his details are listed below. Martin Butcher Lighting Design 1 Cremorne St Fitzroy VIC 3065 Telephone: 03 9416 1688 Facsimile: 03 9416 1711 Mobile: 0409 004238 Email: mbld@bigpond.com Postal: PO Box 117 Surrey Hills, 3127

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APPENDIX 1

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APPENDIX 2

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APPENDIX 3

Soil Analysis Conducted by The Ninemire Group LLC

Client: 2MH Consulting

Field Representative: Lee Govan

Date of Analysis: July 29, 2009

SOIL NUTRIENT STATUS: BEECHWORTH SPORTSGROUND OVAL

BASE SATURATION: KEY ELEMENTS

COMMENTS

These numbers are to correct soil deficiencies only. Nutrient losses such as leaching or plant uptake should be considered when formulating maintenance programs.

Organic Matter (humus)

2.8%

pH (H2O 1:5) 6.4

Conductivity (mmhos/cm)

0.06

Total Exchange Capacity

7.5

Actuals Actual Saturation

Ideal Saturation

Ideals Ca 75.99% 68-72% CaMg 4.4% 13-16% MgK 4.61% 3-5% K

Na 0.84% <3% NaH 9.15% 4.50% H

Other 5.01% 5% Other

Kg per Ha of Calcium deficient 0

Kg per Ha of Magnesium deficient 118 Apply a total of 6.9 Kg per 100 m2 of a 17% Mg material over an appropriate number of applications.

Kg per Ha of Potassium deficient 0

Kg per Ha of Phosphorus deficient 7 Apply a total of 0.3 Kg per 100 m2 of a 11-22-0 material over an appropriate number of applications.

Unit B2 Lidcombe Business Park 3-9 Birnie Avenue Lidcombe NSW 2421 T +61 2 9395 1200 F +61 2 9395 1241 W www.nuturf.com.au PO Box 6390 Silverwater NSW 1811

29 July 2009

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