Is Your Water System Ready for Summer?

After our first guide, A record El Niño and your courts, it's time to move from the forecast to the hardware.

This isn't a buying guide. It's a twenty-minute walk-around to ensure your existing system works before the heat arrives.

The checklist

1. Check your tank's inlet, outlet and overflow screens for mosquito gaps and clear debris.
2. Re-prime the pump using the manufacturer's instructions if it won't deliver water.
3. Check filters for buildup, so nozzles downstream don't block.
4. Walk the courts and check every sprinkler head for misalignment or blockages.
5. Verify your smart controller's rain-skip or weather-adjust feature is on.
6. Contact your water authority for written confirmation of your club's registered user class and any sports-ground exemptions.

The rainwater tank

Start with your storage. Under the Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code, tanks used only for outdoor irrigation don't need a plumbing permit.

The Public Health Regulation 2018 requires all tanks to be screened against mosquitoes at inlets, outlets, and overflows. Your local council enforces this. Queensland Health provides a plain-English factsheet on how to comply.

Check your inlet screen. You might need to unscrew it to brush, scoop, or wash away debris.

Look for gaps where mosquitoes could get in. Check the mesh for tears and replace any damaged sections.

Make sure the overflow is clear and the first-flush diverter works. For a full checklist, use this Smart Approved WaterMark maintenance factsheet.

The pump

If the pump won't deliver water, don't assume it's broken.

Surface pumps often lose prime after sitting idle over winter, so check this first.

Look for air leaks in the suction pipe. A leaking foot valve or check valve can also make priming difficult.

Ensure the pump and suction pipe were full of water before you started. Clogged impellers, suction pipes, or foot valves can also block delivery.

Re-prime the unit using the manufacturer's instructions before calling a technician. See the Onga MF55 troubleshooting table or the Onga Rapid Prime priming procedure for specific steps.

Filtration

Check your filters to prevent blocked nozzles downstream.

Rotor irrigation needs at least an 80-mesh (200 micron) screen filter. Drip systems need a 120-mesh (130 micron) disc filter.

Disc filters generally work better than screen filters if your club uses sediment-heavy bore water.

Inspect the filter element for buildup. A blocked filter usually causes poor pressure or "blind" nozzles on the court.

Sprinklers and controllers

Walk the courts physically. Check every sprinkler head for misalignment or blockages.

Verify the settings if your club uses a smart controller, such as the Hunter Pro-HC Hydrawise, Rain Bird ESP-ME3 with LNK2, or Toro Tempus.

Confirm the rain-skip or weather-adjust feature is on. These are often installed but left disabled.

Ensure the system uses local weather data to avoid unnecessary watering.

Water restrictions

Check your status now. Residential rules may not apply to your courts.

Combined SEQ dam storage is above 80% at the time of publishing, but this changes weekly. Check the live figure on Seqwater's SEQ Water Grid rather than relying on the text here.

Contact your water authority. Get written confirmation of your club's registered user class and any sports-ground exemptions.

It's much harder to get retroactive exemptions once restrictions are active.

This guide could not confirm the exact current restriction stage for Urban Utilities or Unitywater. Their specific status pages returned 404 errors on 11 August.

Check the Urban Utilities or Unitywater homepages directly, or call them to confirm your stage.

What is next?

Most dry-season failures aren't equipment faults. They're usually unchecked screens, lost pump prime, or unconfirmed restriction statuses.

Review the initial forecast guide if you missed it.

Next, read Getting the lawn through a hot, dry summer.

Tell us in the comments what you found: what's working, what needs fixing, or any hardware nobody knew existed.