16 April 2024
Seymour Golf Club is the fifth course to benefit from a partnership with Goulburn Valley Water where new infrastructure upgrades have allowed a higher grade of recycled water to be delivered to the 18-hole recreational facility.
The result of the three-year, two-stage project is that the course is in the best condition of its 60- plus year existence on the site – repeating the successful partnerships between GVW and Euroa, Mansfield, Marysville and Yea golf clubs.
Goulburn Valley Water Managing Director Steve Capewell said using some of the recycled water produced from GVW’s 26 wastewater management facilities for projects like this was a major coup for all involved in the initiative.
“This water is suitable for a variety of uses, including in sustainably irrigating green spaces at recreational and sporting facilities in our towns – like golf clubs.
“Our partnership with the Seymour Golf Club is an example of further developing a circular economy that can result in a great outcome for our customers,” Dr Capewell said.
The new recycled water treatment and delivery system is now being used to irrigate the six kilometres of fairways and greens on the course.
Upgrades include a pair of 55 kilolitre tanks to store fully treated recycled water, as well as a new disinfection system to increase water quality and improved monitoring and automation.
Club president Matt O’Sullivan said the higher quality water had enabled the club to invest in a new irrigation system that doesn’t need volunteers to manually operate.
“It is so much easier for our volunteers, having the tanks and the automated system is saving them three hours a day – which equates to a round of golf.
“Now they simply operate the system using their phones,” he said, offering praise to initial project members John Callaghan and Graham Welsh, along with Jon Muscovich and James Bottaro.
Mr O’Sullivan said Seymour’s fairways had been arguably the best in the district during the summer and the quality of water was chiefly responsible for the improvement.
“Moving forward we are hoping this new water partnership can take us to a level where our fairways are as good as something you would see on the border,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
The new tanks have replaced the pond storage in a replica of the system that is used on the neighbouring courses in the southern part of the GVW service area.
Traditionally the club has used 80-90 megalitres of water annually, representing about 20 per cent of the recycled water available for use in the town.
Lower quality water had previously reduced the effectiveness of the irrigation system, which was the catalyst for the formation of a working group to develop the new delivery method.
The result is a more efficient irrigation system that allows for automated delivery of water to the course and provides a pathway for the potential future installation of a new purple recycled water standpipe in Seymour.