Hi Emmett,
It is may also be worth considering alternatives to traditional grass fields, many campuses are moving to astroturf for example.
Here are three examples that may be helpful in illustrating a couple different solutions;

• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has done shallow wells for all of the athletic field irrigation so that treated drinking water is not used for irrigation. Robert B. Washburn is the director of facilities and would be a good person to connect with if you are interested in that possible solution.

• The University of Connecticut (in addition to moving some fields to astro-turf, which typically require irrigation too) is building a $27M reclaimed water facility. When completed, it will provide tertiary treatment, including additional micro-filtration and UV disinfection enabling the campus to re-use wastewater for irrigation of certain athletic fields and for boiler makeup water at the cogeneration facility, replacing up to 500,000 gallons per day of potable water use. Rich Miller is the director of environmental policy at UConn and would be a good person to connect with.

• University of Albany has a man made pond on campus that serves as a catch basin for rainwater to mitigate storm water runoff and create a water source for the irrigation of athletic fields. Mary Ellen Mallia, the director of of environmental sustainability would be a good contact to learn more about U Albany's system.

Best,
Niles

If by "effluent water" you mean reclaimed domestic wastewater, then you have a very long hill to climb. I was involved with the first site in New York State to receive such a permit in the late 90's. However the reclaimed water was applied not to athletic fields, but to "non-athletic" turf and other landscaping.

Here is a brief list of some of the things that were involved. Every sprinkler head (several hundred) had to be marked with the purple ring (universal color for reclaimed water) and extensive signage was required. A lengthy environmental impact report was required that included extensive effluent testing and soil testing to establish a baseline. Dissolved mineral concentration was an important issue (the effluent was considered hard water, total harness of ~300 ppm) since these minerals remain on the soil when it evaporates, thus "plugging" the soil. And this is just the beginning. In short, it was a lot of work and required continues monitoring and active management to maintain healthy soil. There are numerous other water quality parameters that need to be assessed include coliform, sodium, ph, alkalinity, etc.

Human contact is another issue. In our non-athletic environment incidental human contact has a much lower probability than would likely be the case with your athletic field. Thus Niles suggested alternatives could be more practical than reclaimed domestic wastewater.

All the best,
Mike