That brand new Colorado-grown turf in Target Field will be watered with good old-fashioned recycled Minnesota rain water, the Minnesota Twins announced Tuesday.
The Twins and one of their newest sponsors, Minneapolis-based Pentair Inc., said that the team’s new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis will be the first major sports facility anywhere to be irrigated and washed down with recycled rain water.
The recycling system, designed and installed by Pentair, will collect water from Target Field’s seven acres and drain it into a 100,000-gallon cistern buried below the field. There the water will be disinfected and treated.
The cistern fills and replenishes a 5,000-gallon holding tank, which pumps out the water for use in the ballpark. The system will allow the outfield and infield to be watered at the same time for two hours at 250 gallons per minute, or separately for four hours at 125 gallons per minute.
Officials estimate the system will save the city of Minneapolis more than 2 million gallons of water annually, about half of what the ballpark will need. The city cleans and treats an average of 57 million gallons of water each day, and draws about 21 billion gallons of water from the Mississippi River each year.
Pentair, a global company that makes water storage and treatment systems, donated the recycling system as part of a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal that makes the company “Official Sustainable Water Provider” for the Twins. Officials said the system cost about $200,000 to build.
The company also is providing Target Field with filtration systems for drinking water and food service, water booster pumps and fire pumps.
Twins officials said the recycling system sets “a new environmental standard in sports,” and Pentair officials said they hoped it would raise awareness of the issues of water quality and scarcity.
Although builders continue to work on finishing touches at Target Field, Twins staffers moved into their new offices at the ballpark a couple of weeks ago. The first game in the 40,000-seat ballpark will be an exhibition contest against St. Louis on April 2, and the home opener will be played April 12 against Boston.
