Bore Water Irrigation
Season-long irrigation water for golf courses, turf and horticulture across the Sydney Basin.
Irrigation demand does not fit a mains connection
Irrigation is close to the worst possible use of potable town water. It is high volume, it is seasonal, it peaks exactly when restrictions bite, and none of it needs to be drinking quality. A single eighteen hole course in the Sydney Basin can apply tens of megalitres across a summer, and a mains connection sized to meet that peak is expensive to establish and expensive to hold through the months you do not need it. Groundwater matches the demand curve far better. The aquifer is still there through the dry, it is unaffected by restriction cycles, and the cost per kilolitre falls as volume rises rather than climbing.
Sydney Basin Water designs irrigation supply around the season you actually have to water through, not an annual average. We size the bore, pump and storage against your peak week, prove the yield before committing to it, and treat the water to the point where it will not damage turf, block emitters or corrode your existing reticulation. What you end up with is an independent source you can plan a maintenance calendar and an agronomic programme around, rather than one you hope will hold up in February.
How an irrigation supply is designed and delivered
We work from your irrigated area, agronomic requirement and peak monthly demand to size the scheme. Greens, fairways, sports turf and horticulture all have different quality tolerances, and the design follows those.
Test drilling and yield testing establish what the aquifer will sustainably deliver through a dry summer, not just on the day it was drilled. Peak season is the only number that matters here.
Production bore, headworks, pump set, balance storage and the connection into your existing irrigation mains, built by licensed drillers to the national construction standard.
Water quality tested against turf and crop tolerances, flow verified at design pressure, and the supply integrated with your existing controller and reticulation.
Season-long operation, monitoring and servicing, with compliant extraction metering and the reporting that goes with it handled on your behalf.
Water quality matters more for irrigation than people expect
Untreated bore water can cost you more than it saves. High iron and manganese stain paths, buildings and playing surfaces, and progressively block emitters and sprinkler nozzles. Elevated salinity and sodium damage turf root zones and degrade soil structure over successive seasons. Hardness scales pipework and fittings. None of this shows up in the first month. It shows up in year three, as declining infiltration, patchy surfaces and a reticulation system that needs replacing years earlier than it should have.
We test the source before it is committed to, and we build the treatment the water actually needs rather than a standard package. That might be iron and manganese removal, filtration for sediment and turbidity, or blending to bring salinity within tolerance for your grass species and soil type. The supply is then delivered to an agreed specification and monitored against it, so the water going onto your surfaces is the water the agronomy was planned around.
Irrigation supply built around your surfaces
Golf Courses
Greens, tees and fairways irrigated to an agronomic specification, with yield proven against peak summer demand rather than an annual average.
Sports Fields and Turf Farms
Council grounds, sporting complexes and turf production supplied with the volume needed to keep surfaces playable and saleable through the dry, independent of restriction cycles.
Horticulture and Nurseries
Consistent irrigation water treated to a quality that protects crop, growing media and emitters, with salinity managed to the tolerance your production requires.
Landscaping and Public Open Space
Large developments, estates and parkland irrigated from an independent source that does not compete with potable demand or draw on a restricted mains supply.
Agribusiness and Livestock
Intensive agriculture and mixed operations supplied under a long-term agreement, with licensing, metering and compliance reporting managed on your behalf.
Licensing an irrigation bore in New South Wales
Irrigation is commercial extraction, and it needs a Water Access Licence. Basic landholder rights cover stock and domestic use only, and they do not extend to watering a golf course, a turf farm or a commercial crop. You will need share components in the relevant groundwater source, a water supply works approval for the bore itself, and metering that satisfies the non-urban water metering rules. Annual extraction is capped by the water sharing plan covering that source, so the licence has to be sized against the season, not the average.
Where share components are not immediately available, they can often be traded from an existing licence holder within the same source. That process is slow, and it is the step most irrigation projects underestimate. We manage it end to end, alongside the hydrogeological work that supports the application and the works approval for the bore, so the scheme is legal, metered and reportable from the day it is commissioned rather than the season after.