It has officially been 72 hours of non-stop pumping from the river at a whopping rate of approx. 350 GPM. The irrigation reservoir was down 1.9 million gallons before a constant river supply was re-established on Sunday (FYI : the reservoir total usable capacity it 4 million gallons - small but location more than anything dictated its volume). It's really a game of catch-up now since a quick math calculation tells you that at 350 GPM for 24 hours the most water we can pump to the reservoir is just over 500 000 gallons. At that rate it should be easy to re-fill, basically 4 days but don't forget I still need to use around 325 000 to 450 000 gallons of water every night. So, obviously, the net water gain is somewhere from 175 000 to 50 000 gallons every 24 hours. Using those numbers the actual time it will take to get back to normal levels it more like 11 to 38 days depending on usage. My guess is if we are able to run both pumps at the 350 GPM rate the reservoir should be close to full soon after Labour Day weekend. I am limiting irrigation when and where possible since there is a possibility the river will get so low that we will have to drop to one pump before the end of the watering season and I want to get the reservoir back up to healthy level as soon as possible.
As referenced in the previous post, I am concerned with the excessive wear on the pump shafts but there really is nothing to that can be done at this time. Every time I go down to check on the river I check the pumps. Each time, pump #1 has needed the packing tightened since the wear in the shaft is so bad and water is spewing all over the place. I keep hoping to reach a point when I've jammed so much packing in the stuffing box that I've filled the cavity surrounding the worn shaft enough to stop the geysers from occurring inside the pump house.
The disappointment of deliberately letting turf dry out to the point of dormancy is only eclipsed by observing the damage left behind from cart traffic over the heat stressed areas. I appreciate that most people are focused on their game and may not be aware of the stress the turf is under but there is no way you can stand on 16 tees and not see the impact of traffic on stressed areas of the rough. For me the simple rule is stay off any turf that is not green. Pass it around.
O.K. Hole Of the Week is a flop so lets forget it. I was at a meeting yesterday and another idea one of the speakers mentioned that helped members be involved in their golf course was hosting divot parties. He would close down a couple holes at night and volunteers would show up and walk the entire hole and fill all divots with sand and seed. There was a brief post divot party to show appreciation. Not this year but maybe next?
