Broken Hill City Council commissioned Darling Irrigation via a competitive tender process to construct a storm water capture and re-use project for O’Neill Park Soccer Fields and AJ Keast Park.
Initially both sites were irrigated with manually-changed impact sprays, however the Council recognised that this was an inefficient use of water and also a very time consuming process when watering (it typically took approximately 10 hours per week voluntary labour to irrigate the sites).
This project posed some challenges for Darling Irrigation with some difficulty in getting plant on site due to limitations with existing infrastructure, for example special ramps were required for concrete trucks. A 4T excavator was the maximum that would fit on site at AJ Keast Park to dig out the existing underground tank which took four days.
Crossing and preserving existing services, water mains, utilities and optic fibre added to the challenge and Darling Irrigation was required to keep the water supply live for duration of the project.
The O’Neil Park Soccer Fields and AJ Keast Park was designed as a pilot scheme for the remainder of Broken Hill’s approximate 25 parks and ovals. This overall plan was predicted to save Broken Hill City Council over 300Ml per year in an area where water is at a premium in terms of both availability and costs to service the city.
Darling Irrigation rose to the challenge and delivered the project to specification over a two month period.
During this timeframe, Darling Irrigation had seven staff on-site, working 12 days on and four days off (to accommodate the long travel distances involved). Local contractors were employed to complete electrical works, surveying works, pour concrete, cart spoil and for wet hire of plant.
AJ Keast Park
AJ Keast Park is a public recreational ground in a built up area and high pedestrian traffic zone.
Maintaining the aesthetics of the site was an important requirement for the project and Darling Irrigation ensured a design that protected the visual appearance of the Park while providing the efficient capture of storm water run-off.
As a result, the storm water that is captured is stored in an underground concrete load bearing tank with lawn reinstated on top. Water is captured from a large hill behind the Park, stored and then pumped through a KISSS irrigation system. The control room is located in an existing shed on site.
The project leaves a tiny aesthetic and environmental footprint and the green lawn area remains visually appealing while ensuring world’s best practice irrigation techniques.
AJ Keast Park Technical Information
- Green area is approximately 4200m^2
- Grundfos APG.50 Sump pump delivering 2.5l/s @ 43m head
- Arkal Spin Klin M224 filter, 120 mesh
- Underground tank holds 120kl, probes set to hold approx 1/3 as town water supply
- 5300m of KISSS drip product delivering 1.6l/hr @ 0.5m
- Laterals are 0.8m apart
The System is controlled by Toro MM4000 Controller, with remote operation and fault functions. Seven capture stormwater and deliver to tank via 375RCP, and 300 PVC. Overflow is delivered into town drainage system
O’Neill Park Soccer Fields
O’Neill Park Soccer Fields consist of two full sized soccer ovals, a small warm up area and a spectator hill.
Broken Hill City Council required a system that would capture storm water and re-use this water for irrigating the fields.
The slop of the spectator hill at the fields created some difficulties in the irrigation design and the excavation and laying of storm water drainage lines had to be undertaken through a built up area over exceptionally rocky ground.
The system designed and installed at the O’Neill Park Soccer Fields ensures stormwater is captured from drains, passed through a wetland and then collected and pumped to above ground concrete storage tanks. Once in the storage tanks a KISSS irrigation system uses the water to irrigate the playing fields, warm up area and spectator hill.
Technical Information for O’Neill Park Soccer Fields
- Area of site is 20,000m^2
- Water stored in 2 x 105kl above ground tanks
- Probes set to keep tank 1/3 full on town supply
- Water pressurised by CRN10-06 with VFD delivering 2.5l/s @ 38m
- Filtration via Arkal M224 Spin Klin 120 mesh
- System controlled by Toro MM4000 Controller, with remote operation and fault functions
- Approximately 25500m KISSS drip product, 1.6l/h @ 0.5m
- Laterals are 0.8m apart
- 12 valves control the total area
Increasing efficiencies with remote livestock and water monitoring
