Opening Golf to the World
Royal Automobile Club
The RAC have recently constructed a large reservoir in order to store excess borehole water during the winter. This now allows the Club over three months water supply at peak demand, allowing the Club to be self-sufficient and secure in terms of water supply for future years. The entire system is expected to pay for itself in less than 10 years.
Like many clubs across the UK, the summer of 2018 cemented the way forward for the Royal Automobile Club. Up to this point, the club had relied on a borehole delivering roughly 140m3 a day to provide irrigation for tees, greens and aprons. However, daily use across the course totalled between 250-450m3. The shortfall was made up from main supply which left the club with substantial mains water bills, whilst always being at the mercy of the water supplier and environment agency restrictions. Plans for a reservoir, that had long been under discussion, were resurrected in the autumn of 2018 in order to provide a more sustainable future for the Club and the courses.
Original planning permissions had to be revisited, but ground was still broken in early 2019. For the most part the project went smoothly, but a few issues with the bulking of spoil resulted in a revision to planning conditions being required. Contractors dug down approximately 5m, and built up banking by 3m, to give a water depth of 7m with a metre clearance at the lip. The total capacity of 27,000m3 (6 million gallons) was achieved and would now provide suitable water storage to protect against a 90-day period of drought.
The reservoir has been fully operational since April 2020 and is now being filled with water from two on-site boreholes. It is expected to be at full capacity by March 2021 providing the 36-hole complex with the security they require. This gives the Club 60 days full irrigation storage and 90 days storage, taking into account recharge from the borehole. If necessary, this period can be further extended by a reduction in irrigation requirements following an in-house review of irrigation needs. This resulted in maximum water required for optimum turf performance, and minimum requirements to keep the plant alive.
Annual maintenance of the reservoir is not arduous and involves standard water body and pump equipment maintenance in addition to two aerators placed in the reservoir to prevent algae build up. The Club also installed eight reinforced concrete pillars around the banks in order to allow accurate GPS surveys each year to determine if slumping is occurring.
The return on investment for the Royal Automobile Club is around 10 years, but the reservoir, and boreholes, will provide sustainable water solutions for far longer than that. The Club were very happy with this figure, although the main driver was the long-term security of the course, which the Club realised was fully dependent on a secure water supply.
Key Figures
- Water requirement: 250-450m3
- Borehole capacity/licence: 140m3 a day
- Reservoir capacity: 27,000m3
- Total cost: £400k
- Payback period: 10 years
