Golf course irrigation project set for Tuesday board vote

Over three years of research and planning will come before the Canyon Lake POA Board on Tuesday. The Golf Course Irrigation Project is in the final stages of approval and will be on the Regular Session Board Meeting Agenda that night.

The Canyon Lake Green Committee has put in a significant amount of work since 2017 to identify and record the failures in the golf course irrigation system. The committee also is recommending a new high-efficiency system to replace the old and outdated equipment.

The current golf course irrigation system was installed in 1996, and many of the components are beyond their life expectancy. For instance, the weather station has been out of service for about a year, plus the irrigation controllers are deteriorating regularly and parts are scarce.

Additionally, the irrigation heads fail frequently and a lot of maintenance labor is spent on patching the system, the board said in a note to members. Further, two of the irrigation pumps are outdated, extremely inefficient and in need of replacement. Tests showed that the main irrigation pump was operating at 50% efficiency. In addition to all of that, the underground lateral lines are failing regularly. A need for a new system is apparent, the board said.

Research was done into both RainBird and Toro for the latest technology that could improve irrigation coverage and efficiency for both water and energy savings. It was determined the new design and the RainBird IC system would provide 14.6% water savings and significant energy savings with the two new pump stations, the board said.

The new system is projected to yield a $90,000 annual savings at today’s water prices. The project was presented to the board on July 7 and design fees were approved the following month. The RFP went out in December, and bids were received Jan. 15. All four bidders were recommended and prequalified by the architect so that once the bids are compared the selection would be simple.

If approved at Tuesday’s meeting, the work should begin on March 1 and can be completed in four months, or over two years, depending on how aggressive the board wants to be with the schedule.

A short project will cost less, but would impact play for a good portion of the 2021 season. However, a longer-term project will cost significantly more, but the impact on play will be for shorter periods as the work takes place over a longer two-year period.

The irrigation replacement cost will be fully funded from the Repair & Reserve Account and will not affect member dues.

The contractor will work on one hole at a time for about a week, before moving on to the next hole. This will provide for minimum interruption to play with 17 holes open for most of the construction period.

The months of March through June were selected for the project so the typically mild temperatures during those months will allow for portions of the irrigation system to be shut down for a few days at a time without severe damage to the turf.

The following warmer months will help promote the Bermuda turf recovery from the construction work more rapidly. This period is also the peak season for golf tournaments on the course. Every effort will be made to work with tournament organizers for a successful event regardless of the project’s length, the board said.

“As always, we encourage you to email the Board at board@canyonlakepoa.com or attend our Board Meetings,” the board said. “This meeting will be a virtual meeting through Zoom and members may join at vm.clpoa.net.”

The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m.