Major golf course irrigation overhaul nearly halfway done

Pleasurable anticipation.

The headache of holes being closed one at a time and trenches meandering throughout the Canyon Lake Golf Course, will soon be remedied as the massive irrigation project moves along on schedule.

The 25-year-old irrigation system has been a headache all on its own. Repairs, uneven coverage and excessive use of water have been the norm at the course for years.

The Canyon Lake POA Board put an end to the pain and authorized the funding of the nearly $2 million project from the association’s Repair and Reserve Fund.

Photo provided by canyon lake property owners association

The new irrigation system design is anticipated to save approximately 14.6% in water, additional savings in power, along with reduced annual maintenance costs for a total of an estimated savings of $105,000 per year. This project has an estimated return on investment between 12 and 17 years depending on water rates, the POA said.

The new state of the art system will have the following replaced: Controllers, Irrigation Heads, Lateral Piping, Main Pump Station, Potable Pump Station & Pump Enclosure, Soil Sensors, Weather Station and Communication Wiring.

To replace all of those items requires digging trenches wherever water is to be accessed for sprinklers to water the course. Hence, every hole on the course is affected. The POA said its goal is to only close one hole at a time for minimal distruption. The crews are currently on Hole 16.

The irrigation system at the Canyon Lake Golf Course was installed in 1996 with a typical useful life expectancy of 15 to 25 years. Each year, the amount of time and money used to repair this aging irrigation system kept increasing.

Photo provided by canyon lake property owners association

The new system not only replaces the aging elements, but the newer irrigation system is also designed to be much more efficient.

The Canyon Lake POA design engineer released a Request For Proposal (RFP) for this project to golf course irrigation specialists in December. The RFP included new lateral lines, an irrigation control system, a weather station and the replacing of all irrigation heads.

Four bids were received from reputable golf course irrigation contractors by Jan. 15. The bids ranged from $1.56 to $2.06 million, with an additional $320,000 for two pump stations and soil sensors that were outside of the posted scope of work. The associatiaon said that there is a potential grant opportunity of $98,000 it is pursuing that would offset the cost of the project.