Special Report: Is artificial turf cheaper to maintain?

Many cities and school districts across the Borderland have been replacing natural grass fields with artificial turf to reduce maintenance costs, but they may not be saving money when it comes to watering costs.

A New Mexico State University study has found that more water is needed to keep artificial cool enough to safely play on during a hot summer day than what is needed to water Bermuda grass for a day.

“If you, on a hot summer day, wanted to play two games of soccer on an artificial turf surface, you would have to irrigate at least two times for the surface to be cool enough and provide the athletes with a safe playing surface,” said NMSU professor Bernd Leinauer, a turf-grass extension specialist for the State of New Mexico.

Leinauer said the amount of water needed to cool down the artificial turf “is actually higher than what we need on a healthy Bermuda grass lawn to irrigate on a hot, summer day.”

The professor and his research team conducted an experiment in the summer of 2017 that found field turf (a type of artificial turf) can easily reach temperatures of up to 170 degrees on a hot summer day. They found it takes two tenths of an inch of water on artificial turf to keep the field cool enough to safely play on for one and a half hours. Only three tenths of an inch of water is enough to adequately take care of Bermuda grass each day.

However, many teams schedule practices and games outside the peak heat of the day, so watering artificial turf is unnecessary.

“Our coaches are very good about scheduling practices in the cooler parts of the day, early morning, or you know, early evening,” said Maria Kennedy, the athletic director at the El Paso Independent School District.

EPISD is in the process of replacing all football fields with artificial turf as a result of a bond approved by voters in 2016. This new artificial turf will have an organic coconut shell infill, which does not absorb as much heat as traditional rubber infill.

EPISD fields have been artificial turf for quite some time now, but when real turf was used, maintenance was difficult.

“We would have to hire our coaches to mow the fields. We would keep them on staff the whole summer because there were not enough people out there to mow the football field,” says Kennedy. “By the time soccer season came around in January, there was no grass. I mean they were playing on bare patches of dirt actually… It was really, really bad for our kids because we could not keep up with the maintenance of our natural turf fields.”

Football players seem to be divided on whether they prefer artificial or real turf.

“I definitely prefer real grass, just because I was over at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and we had Bermuda Grass down there. And that was just really nice just because you know it was a soft grass and I always felt like I had a grip,” said Coronado High School offensive lineman Jack Niland.

“I prefer turf to be honest cause grass gets you all dirty and stuff and if it’s a rainy day, you have all of that mud and yea,” said Parkland running back Deion Hankins.

School districts and parks in El Paso are also required to follow scheduled watering days, which means they can only water on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from April 1st to September 30th.

Las Cruces watering restrictions can be found here.