Romford Golf Club

Romford Golf Club invested in a borehole in 2019 in order to reduce their reliance on mains water by 60% which has resulted in savings of £8000 a year.

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Romford Golf Club installed a borehole in 2019 in order to reduce their reliance on main water. The Club have a water demand of 11,000m³ a year, which had resulted in significant water bills of approximately £12,000 each year.

A borehole was sunk onsite after a few exploratory holes. The borehole is 130m deep, with water extracted at a depth of 92m and stored in a 250m³ day tank. The current abstraction license runs for 10 years and allows the club to abstract 90m³ during a 15-hour window each day. The Club now use borehole water for 60% of their use, with the rest made up from mains water, reducing their water bill from round £12,000 to £4,000 a year.

This has enabled the Club to install fairway irrigation, which would not have been possible without the borehole. In addition, the Club use an acid dosing system to reduce the pH of the water which is quite alkaline (8.3), which increases the efficiency of the water discharged through the irrigation system.

The whole project took approximately 13 months from start to finish, and cost £73,000. The project will have a payback period of 5-7 years, after which the Club will potentially make money from the borehole use.

Key Figures

Water demand = 11,000m³ a year
Borehole abstraction licence = 90m³ day (15 hour window each day)
Mains water 2019 = 3562m³
Borehole water 2019 = 4897m³
Borehole construction costs: £73,000
Mains water cost savings: £8,000 a year
Payback period = 5-7 years

If you would like more information or advice on these water security projects implemented at the Romford Golf Club, contact details are found below: Greenkeeper Anthony Kirwan:- Email: Antony.kirwan@romfordgolfclub.co.uk