Water Campaign™ case study

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City of Maribyrnong: Whitten Oval Project

: Corporate action

: Partnerships

: Water Conservation

The City of Maribyrnong, Victoria, is situated directly east of the Melbourne CBD. It the smallest and most densely populated municipality in the metropolitan area, with an area of 31.2 square kilometres and population of 61,329.

Council has been a participant in the Water Campaign™ since 2003.

Synopsis

The City of Maribyrnong has achieved significant water and financial savings by resowing its Whitten Oval with a blend of grasses more suitable for drier climate conditions.

The oval, in Barkly Street, Footscray, is the training venue of the Western Bulldogs, one of the Australian Football League teams.

Motivation

In late 1997 the City of Maribyrnong completely renovated the surface of Whitten Oval, then Western Oval, in order to provide a better quality playing surface for the Western Bulldogs AFL team (then Footscray Football Club).

: The famous Whitten Statue

As advised by a sports turf consultancy, the clay loam profile surface and turf wicket was completely removed and replaced with 300mm sand profile in order to avoid muddy conditions during winter sports. The oval was then sown with couch and rye grass species.

However, the winter grass (poa annua) soon became the dominant species. The combination of pure sand profile and high water needs of winter grass resulted in Council having to extensively irrigate the oval during dry periods.

By late 2002 the drought had taken its toll on the rain-famished turf and much of the oval’s grass cover had died. As Whitten Oval was used as a training venue for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, City West Water granted Council a temporary exemption from the level 2 water restrictions.

Strikingly, it took just two weeks for the entire grassed surface of the oval to die when the exemptions ended in September 2003.

Process

Council’s Milestone 1 inventory for the Water Campaign™ identified sports fields to be its highest source of water consumption, responsible for approximately 60 per cent of its water use. Whitten Oval alone used 30 Mega Litres of water each year.

The Milestone 1 inventory also revealed inadequate metering at the Whitten Oval precinct. It transpired that the Western Bulldogs, who leased the oval, were not being charged for any of their water use in their sporting facilities – a total of 10 Mega Litres per year. Consequently, another water meter was installed.

Given the growing awareness of climate change and likely continued drought conditions, it was very clear that Council needed to reduce Whitten Oval’s annual water consumption of 20 Mega Litres in irrigation.

The Milestone 1 inventory findings assisted Council to target its high water use areas, however, some of the options for Whitten Oval – such as adding additives to the sand profile to improve water retention – were considered too expensive for the first round of actions.

Council approached a regular supplier, Turf & Irrigation, who provided advice and coordinated contractors. It was decided to resow the oval with drought tolerant grass species.

After removing the remaining winter grass and weed seed with pre-emergent herbicide, Whitten Oval was re-sown on 19 December 2003 at 75kg per hectare with Princess 77 Couch.

Couch is a summer grass requiring warm conditions to germinate from seed; cold weather can rot and kill seed, and budget restraints prevented Council from laying instant turf. The grass is dormant during the colder months, so December was chosen as the best time to maximise its growing season.

The resowing of the oval meant that no training could take place for a number of months and Council had to carefully manage this issue with Western Bulldogs.

While the new grass began to emerge quickly, January 2004 was a cold month and the couch did not spread as quickly as expected. After ten weeks the ground had 80 per cent cover and the Western Bulldogs began to use it again.

The oval then had a busy few weeks with a number of football games and training sessions, and a family day. The new couch coped well although it might have reached 100 per cent cover sooner given more time without usage.

During the cooler months of the playing season it was decided to let the existing winter grass fill the oval’s bare patches. Unfortunately if the winter grass was left untreated it would compete with the couch for cover, so Council chose to aim for 100 per cent couch cover.

The oval was sprayed again to remove the poa annua and fertilised to encourage couch growth. Twelve months after the initial re-sowing, Whitten Oval had 90 per cent couch coverage and was then oversown with the Princess 77 couch to promote a full cover.

Today the oval has 100 per cent couch cover.

: The new turf cover, which is now predominantly high quality couch grass

Savings and benefits

Water consumption and financial savings

The action has resulted in considerable savings. In addition to reducing Whitten Oval’s annual water consumption from 20 Mega Litres to seven Mega Litres, Council will see significant financial savings of approximately $10,000 for every 10 Mega Litre reduction.

Community Engagement

The Whitten Oval re-sowing was promoted in Council’s magazine, which was distributed to every household in the municipality. By demonstrating the huge water and financial savings of the project Council has become a community leader in water conservation.

Council is now exploring recapturing other sources of water, such as treated stormwater from a development site adjacent to Whitten Oval. The water could be used to irrigate landscaped gardens and the oval.

: The former South Pacific Tyres site, currently under development.

In addition, Council’s actions have helped inspire the Western Bulldogs to adopt a water conservation focus. The forthcoming redevelopment and upgrade of their grounds will include the installation of a 30,000 litre tank to reuse rainwater from the new pavilion for toilet flushing.

: Cleaned and excess stormwater will be utilised for irrigation at Whitten Oval.

Other benefits

Reports indicated that turf cover during the first football season after re-sowing was adequate but a little bare. However, the second season was considered excellent.

The action has been regarded positively by nearly everyone, with AFL football players agreeing that the new couch grass cover offers better playability, less tripping hazards and is generally a far better quality surface than the previous winter grass.

Costs

The cost to implement the initiative totalled approximately $36,000, yet by saving $10,000 for every 10 Mega Litre reduction, the action has a payback period of around four years. This project was funded entirely by Maribyrnong Council.

Lessons learnt

Although the general reaction to the grass has been very positive, there are some downsides to the use of warm season grasses in Melbourne.

During winter – the couch grass’s dormancy period – the turf does deteriorate slightly and changes colour to brown. This is purely an aesthetic change and playability is generally unaffected.

As the effects of climate change become more apparent, sporting clubs are starting to realise that everyone – not just councils – needs to do their bit to reduce water use, and tolerance of this minor visual drawback is growing.

: During the cooler months the warm season couch grass does start to brown slightly

If the surface is overused the couch, while dormant, is not able to recover. However, this has not been an issue at Whitten Oval.

In order to extend the couch grass’s growing period, black rubber pellets (from shredded tyres) are spread over the ground to absorb solar radiation. At this stage the pure sand profile has not been altered, although in future Council may add a medium that will increase the sand’s water retention capacity.

Due to the success of the Whitten Oval action, Council has committed to oversow 15 more sports fields with couch grass over the next three years. Reduced watering will promote the growth of couch while restricting that of the winter species.

It is expected that these future actions will lead to even more significant savings in water consumption.

Further information

City of Maribyrnong website

See the Community Water Grants website for information about current funding and lists of previous grant recipients.

Contact details

For further information about the ICLEI Water Campaign™ in Australia please contact:

ICLEI Oceania
4/267 Collins St
Melbourne Vic 3000
Ph:   +61 3 9639 8688
Fax:   +61 3 9639 8677
Email:   oceania@iclei.org
Website:   www.iclei.org/oceania/water

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Gavin Mountjoy, Manager Sustainability and Environment, Maribyrnong City Council for his assistance.

This case study was produced with the support of funding from the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources.

Quoted Population figures are taken from the 2002 Australian Bureau of Statistics Report, 2000–01 Regional Population Grown: Australia And New Zealand.

Call for future case studies

Does your council have an initiative that could be promoted by the Water Campaign™?

If your council has implemented an innovative water saving initiative or project to improve water quality, we may be able to profile your action in a future case study. Contact your Water Campaign™ state manager with details.

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