Pure EP

Pure EP

Water-free hockey. Proven performance without irrigation.

Pure EP is the first fully water-free hockey system in the world approved for competitive play. It was developed from a growing realization within the sport: high-level hockey should no longer depend on water to deliver speed, control, and consistency. Where traditional hockey systems rely on irrigation to manage friction between ball and surface, Pure EP achieves the same playing characteristics through system design. By rethinking how the surface interacts with the ball, water is no longer required to unlock performance.

Why move away from water

Irrigation has long been accepted as a prerequisite for modern hockey. Water reduces friction, increases ball speed, and enables technical play. At the same time, it introduces a structural dependency on potable water, energy for pumping, and complex infrastructure. As water becomes increasingly scarce and operational costs continue to rise, this dependency becomes harder to justify. The question is no longer whether water-free hockey is possible, but whether continued reliance on irrigation is sustainable in the long term. Pure EP was developed to address this challenge at its root.

How Pure EP delivers performance

Instead of using water as a lubricant, Pure EP reduces friction through surface design. By minimizing the effective contact area between ball and surface, the system delivers fast and predictable play without irrigation. This approach maintains the technical demands of modern hockey while removing water as an operational requirement.
Pure EP is engineered to deliver hockey performance without irrigation. Low and consistent friction is achieved through fiber configuration rather than water.

Benefit
No irrigation systems, no pumping, no pre-game watering. The field remains playable under all conditions, without dependency on water availability.

By eliminating irrigation, Pure EP removes structural water consumption from daily operation.

Benefit
In real-world use, a single field saves millions of liters of water per year, equivalent to tens of thousands of showers annually. Water that no longer needs to be extracted, transported, or treated.

Pure EP reduces the effective contact area between ball and surface by approximately 40 to 50 percent, achieving low friction without lubrication.

Benefit
Fast, predictable ball movement in dry, cold, and warm conditions. Performance remains consistent without relying on water to regulate speed or control.

Removing irrigation also removes associated infrastructure such as water storage, pumping units, and drainage dependencies.

Benefit
Lower operational burden, reduced maintenance requirements, and increased field availability. Grounds teams manage fewer systems while gaining more usable hours.

Pure EP has undergone extensive testing in line with international hockey standards, including durability and wear testing.

Benefit
Official approval for competitive play confirms that water-free hockey is no longer experimental. Performance, safety, and reliability are validated over the system’s lifetime.

Water savings in real-world use

  • Weesp

    The first Pure EP installation was completed in 2023 at MHC Weesp. In the first eight months of use, approximately 4.2 million liters of water were saved compared to a traditional irrigated main field. This equals 525,000 liters per month, or over 6.3 million liters per year, based on training and match usage.

    To put that into perspective, this annual saving equals 67,000 ten-minute showers. One person could shower every day for 184 years using that amount of water.
    It also means more than half a million toilet flushes per month are no longer required, simply because the field remains dry.

  • Mierlo

    In Mierlo, two Pure EP fields are currently in use. Within just three months, an estimated 3.75 million liters of water were saved. This equals 1.25 million liters per month, or 15 million liters per year, compared to conventional water-based hockey fields.

    That volume corresponds to six Olympic-size swimming pools, or five people taking a daily bath for more than 65 years.

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Redefining the reference for hockey

Pure EP demonstrates that water-free hockey is not a compromise, but a new reference point. It delivers consistent playability, immediate availability, and significant water savings without changing how the game is played. Not developed because it was easy. Developed because it became necessary.