Just noticed that the Memorial Stadium construction update on calbears.com says that excavation of the field and drainage and irrigation installation will begin in mid-April. If artificial turf is going to be installed, why are they installation irrigation?

:tedford

Did they ever conclude on the field design? I remember taking the survey about a year ago or so.

Golden One;731754 said:

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Just noticed that the Memorial Stadium construction update on calbears.com says that excavation of the field and drainage and irrigation installation will begin in mid-April. If artificial turf is going to be installed, why are they installation irrigation?

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Artificial turf still needs to be watered down daily. There was an irrigation system installed in the previous turf field and the sprinklers always came on in the mornings.

Golden One;731754 said:

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Just noticed that the Memorial Stadium construction update on calbears.com says that excavation of the field and drainage and irrigation installation will begin in mid-April. If artificial turf is going to be installed, why are they installation irrigation?

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to water down the field on really hot days. In September and October (the two hottest months in the Bay Area), the temp on the field can easily exceed 100 degrees. Being able to water down the field can cool it off by as much as 15-20 degrees, even if it is temporary.

Another thing: back in 1995, when the field was converted from Astro Turf to natural grass, the crown was removed, and the field was lowered 2 feet. Because the crown was removed a state of the art drainage system was installed. My memory may be a bit hazy on the details, but I seem to recall that the top four or five feet of topsoil was removed, the new drainage and irrigation system was installed and covered by a foot of sand. A foot of new loamy topsoil was put on top of that and the sod rolled out.

The drainage system was supposed to be able to pump up to 45,000 gallons per minute by drawing it through the soil and thereby cutting down on the muddy mess that might be created by a deluge. The drainage system most famously failed in the 2006 Oregon game, when the northeast corner of the field became a huge puddle.

Thanks for the info.