Are you PAYING too much for a Drainage System that doesn't Deliver?

Over the last ten years, there’s been a monumental shift in the desire for, and definition of, a perfect sports surface.
 
Gone are the days when the playing public would put up with a puddle-ridden park pitch or yet another weather-related washout.
 
They want, and quite rightly expect, what most professionals get, week in, week out. That’s a pristine playing condition, whatever the weather.
 
All this has placed an increasing pressure on those at the grass roots and on local authority and private club funds.
 
All too often, the remedy has been to install increasingly more complex, more expensive and difficult to maintain drainage or renovation schemes.
 
While the support of external funding bodies to assist with large projects has been a great benefit to many; they are not a long-term cash-cow.
 
Quite rightly, they require evidence of value for money and sustainability and are starting to question whether current, expensive drainage practices are the right approach.

Outdated Drainage Principles

The problem is that many drainage and renovation schemes are not properly related to the site or soil.
 
Thus, mistakes are made, or schemes installed that are vastly over-engineered and hence over-priced.
 
And, even when the soil and site is taken into account, schemes are often still based on out-dated principles that simply can’t cope with average, let alone peak, rainfall conditions.
 
Even small mistakes, such as selection of the wrong material can make a big difference. For example, rather than drain a soil, the wrong material in the surface layers:

• literally helps suck water up hill through the soil,
• can lead to perched water tables, waterlogging, poor growth and
compaction,
• can result in fine sand being washed down through the pores within the soil creating impermeable layers at depth or blocking drains.