St Patrick's Cemetery Irrigation Project

Irrigear Goulburn was selected for this unique irrigation project – which required precision trenching, a solar-powered control system, a quick implementation timeline and loads of respect for the site.

Irrigation Project: St Patrick's Cemetery (Kenmore Roman Catholic Cemetery)

Client: Goulburn Mulwaree Council LGA

Brief:  Design, quote, and install a high quality automated turf irrigation system for the St Patrick's Lawn Cemetery, covering an area of around 1.25 hectares.

Irrigear Goulburn was contacted in mid-May 2020 and asked to provide an irrigation design and quote for irrigation of the St Patricks Lawn Cemetery in Goulburn. A site inspection was carried out with council staff and a time frame was established. The job had to be completed before the end of June 2020.

Solution: A design was quickly drawn up and approved, incorporating:

• 90 Hunter I20 pressure regulated pop-up sprinklers with stainless steel risers
• PN9 PVC lateral & PN12 PVC main pipelines.
• 13 zones designed
• Hunter PGV201 solenoid valves with DC latching coils
• Hansen ball valves in heavy duty valve boxes with treated pine sub-frames
• 2 Hunter XC hybrid solar-powered irrigation controllers
• 2 nine core 1.2mm² irrigation cables

Because there was no nearby power on site, the two Hunter XC Hybrid solar powered irrigation controllers were incorporated into the design. Two 9 core 1.5mm2 irrigation cables were specified, allowing a couple of spare cables each.

The system was then priced and submitted for approval by Council. With 4 weeks until the deadline the project was approved and materials ordered. The entire system was then installed by Irrigear Goulburn in the next 3 weeks and was handed over with a few days to spare.

Challenges:  The main challenge was that all pipework, sprinklers and valves had to be located within narrow “easements” between graves. The easements were around 8 inches wide and had been previously surveyed and pegged.

Most importantly (we didn’t want to chop off any toes) the narrow easements also meant that the sprinkler sizing had to be determined by the distances between these easements. The lack of power on site meant that a solar-powered control system would be needed. Work also had to be scheduled around funerals. One bonus was that there were no services on the site and that, along with the soil types, made the trenching easier.

Outcome: The entire irrigation system was designed, quoted, ordered, installed and handed over in a five week period. The installation was quite straightforward and progressed rapidly. Testing of the system produced very few problems and the handover to Council staff went well. Goulburn Mulwaree Council LGA were pleased that the project had been completed on time and within budget and with a minimum of fuss.