IRRIGATION AND WATER MANAGEMENT
Identify broken parts of the system. Photo by John C. Fech
evidence to show a decisionmaker when it comes time to approve upgrades, and a picture / video is worth a thousand words.
SECOND STEP: MEASURE AND RECORD This is where the rubber meets the road; where the real output is documented. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for in terms of the inputs for a valuable endeavor. When venturing into this activity, it’ s worth doing it right by using high-quality water collection equipment. It’ s readily available and not super expensive. You can buy the essential components for a baseball field for about $ 500.
Run each zone for 20 minutes, then record the amounts collected— noting metric system units / millimeters allows for a much easier comparison and uniformity calculation than using imperial measurements.
Using a straightforward chart like the one below will allow for both mathematical and visual comparisons.
Calculating uniformity: Average depth of lowest 25 % of cans: divided by overall average depth of all cans: equals: %
Uniformity can be calculated by using the above formula or a simple division of the average depth of all cans. If there are drastic differences in amounts collected— such as 10 mm, 25 mm, 35 mm and 8mm in the same zone or adjacent zones— then it’ s best to use the method that utilizes the lowest 25 % of cans, as well as the overall average. Irrigation systems with lower than 60 percent uniformity should be adjusted for more uniform coverage.
THIRD STEP: FIX THE BIG FLAWS Perhaps the biggest improvement in efficiency can be realized by identifying and fixing the biggest flaws, similarly to the method of calculating
CALCULATING IRRIGATION SYSTEM UNIFORMITY BY AVERAGE
Can # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Avg. Depth Total / 10
Mm in Can
Can # 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Avg. Depth Total / 10
Mm in Can
24 SportsField Management | September 2025 sportsfieldmanagementonline. com