Adapted from two article printed in the SportsTurf Magazine, May 2011 issue, pg. 16 & pg. 18, pg. 32 & 34 with numerous interviews of sports turf and facility managers of different sport complexes.

Those interviewed indicated that irrigating the synthetic turf to reduce the temperature affects were only slightly successful, and only for a short period of time, typically 30 minutes. Many avoided irrigation before events due to time constraints.

A majority of the managers indicated that adding water helped to settle the infield, especially those using crumb rubber, after it was groomed as well as minimize the static build-up.

One individual indicated that the athletes liked a "wet" field which helped improve the "not grab" as much field surface for the cleats versus playing on a drier field.

One of the biggest issues the sports turf managers face is the build-up of organic matter on the field from dust, dirt, body fluids, leaves, hair, debris, etc. Many of them indicated that removing a growing medium was critical to minimize the growth of bacteria and plants. Once the surface is cleaned, whether through mechanical means such as a blower and a vacuum and then spray disinfectants, the facility managers felt is was important to rinse the turf fibers using irrigation methods. Some used water cannons or in-ground sprinkler system around the edge.

The key is removing the "dirt" which a brush will not do, but rather "pushes" it into the infield material. While the brush may help agitate the fibers and infield material it doesn't necessarily clean either one. So one author indicated that it is important to understand what was being accomplished with the respective maintenance procedures.

One mentioned the analogy is with a locker room, if the shower area of locker room is kept clean then there is less opportunity for bacterial infections. Just rinsing the surface will not necessarily "clean" the surface.

The synthetic turf equipment industry trend, from this author's point of view, is more vacuum technology that filters the material allowing the infield material to fall back to the surface. For example, further adaptation of the LawnShark equipment for synthetic turf surfaces is a possibility in my estimation.