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For two years the people behind the idea didn't know quite what to call it.
One person referred to it as "wick" irrigation. Others suggested "bubbler"
watering. Another labeled it simply a "flood" system.
Finally, the new method of turf irrigation being tested at the Center for
Irrigation Technology (CIT) has an official name. It's called Turf Bubbler
Wick Irrigation SystemsTM.
A patent-pending innovation of NIBCO Irrigation
Systems of Fresno, the turf bubbler system is ready for a third summer of
trials at the CIT facility at California State University, Fresno.
Turf bubbler technology is not necessarily new, explained Ed Norum, CIT
project engineer and director of the testing project. It has been practiced by
anyone who has thrown a hose in the middle of their lawn and let it run
slowly to soak an area. What product developers at NIBCO want to do is turn
this simple concept into an applied technology that can be used to effectively
irrigate entire turf areas.
Initial tests began in the summer of 1995 following discussions between
Norum and Joe Byles, now head of research and development for NIBCO.
Byles suggested the method during a discussion of irrigation problems such
as root intrusion in subsurface drip systems.
"The method evolved from subsurface drip," Norum recalled. "We thought,
'Let's not force the water into the root zone - let's take it up to the top and let
it run into the root zone."
And so it was designed. The turf bubbler system uses underground tubing or
pipe, just like a conventional underground sprinkler system. Flow regulators
rise at intervals along the pipe, and small tubes rise from the flow regulators
to the lawn surface to bubble the water out - somewhat like a drinking
fountain. "Fountain" spacing has varied in tests, but worked well last
summer with a five-by-five foot staggered spacing.
It's not complicated or expensive, and so far it seems to be working, Norum
said. In small test plots, bright green sections of fescue turfgrass indicate that
the bubblers can provide uniform cover-age using no more water than what is
suggested by common evapotranspiration (ETo) standards.
One of the advantages of the system is the virtual elimination of sprinkler
spray. "Imagine no more water spraying up in the streets, on fences, on brick
walls or windows," Norum said. "And the cost is going to be less," he
added. The system uses lighter materials at a lower pressure rating, and
simple flow regulators and tubing instead of sprinkler heads.
There are potential problems that need to be addressed, Norum said. "We
don't know what's going to happen with clogging; we don't know how it's
going to behave on other soils [than the sandy loam of the test plots]; and we
don't know how it's going to behave on slopes."
To address the potential sloping problems, the research team has built several
plots with grades ranging from one-half to two percent. These will be tested
this summer. Depending upon the results gathered, further tests could be
conducted to address other problems.
The turf bubbler irrigation tests are an example of the variety of irrigation and
equipment testing CIT conducts for public, private, domestic and
international clients. For more information on CIT programs and services,
call (209) 278-2066 or visit CIT's Internet home page at
(http://cati.csufresno.edu/cit).
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