Reducing Water Use on Synthetic Turf Fields

There is no typo in the title.  Synthetic turf requires less than its natural counterpart, but does not eliminate water use.  Cleaning, cooling, and improving playability is just a few things water is used for on a synthetic field.  Water is usually applied to the field with hoses, water canons, traveling sprinklers, and/or underground sprinklers.  

Below is a link to an article that appeared in SportTurf discussing a recent renovation to a field at Princeton University.  The renovation included installing underground sprinklers to wet the field prior to field hockey games.  With the new system, it takes 1,200 gallons of water to saturate the field.  Previously they applied water using a traveling sprinkler (water reel).  To saturate the field with the traveling sprinkler it required 12,000 gallons of water.  Again, that is not a typo!

http://read.dmtmag.com/i/96775/21