The area behind 5 green heading to 6 tees has been wet for several weeks now. We were pretty sure this would turn out to be a major leak in the irrigation system. Because of the drought, the grounds crew chose to delay this repair until we came into cooler weather when irrigation wasn't in such high demand.
After digging down 8 feet or so, we found that a 6 inch main line has sprung a leak. The last time anyone saw this pipe was in 1989. In the pic below, you can see our assistant Sean standing on the leaking pipe. In between Seans feet theres a pin hole spraying water, the source of the leak. Although Sean dove right into the hole, Kyle, Pablo, and George were drawing straws to see who was next.
It takes more time to excavate the pipe than it does to make repairs. After cutting out the bad area, we had to pump excess water out of the hole and shovel more mud to gain enough access to the bad section of pipe.
Once the pipe was cleaned around enough, the bad section was cut out and a new piece of pipe was installed. Most of the crew ran away from working in the muddy hole but luckily Roberto volunteered to help Sean. Because the pipe was slightly misaligned both a Knock on and Hymax fitting was used. Roberto's tightening it up below.
All fixed, Ed's filling the hole back in with the front end loader. Because the surrounding area's still a little soft and mushy we're going to stay off of the cart path for a few more days. Asphalt will be replaced as time permits.
