FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Fall 2017Public Affairs
Home›Issues›Fall 2017›The Era of Recycled Water May Be Drawing to a Close

The Era of Recycled Water May Be Drawing to a Close

By Craig Kessler
October 23, 2017
3942
0
Share:

One-third of California’s golf courses have access to recycled water. Another significant number have access to raw untreated water from the Colorado River — roughly six percent. And all of them are in one place, the Coachella Valley. A number use groundwater, many exclusively, others to supplement alternative supplies. That still leaves more than half of California’s golf courses dependent upon potable supplies for their irrigation.

For a long time the industry has been able to rebut environmentalists who decry the use of drinking water to irrigate golf courses by stating the following: We agree with you, which is why we promote at every turn gaining access to a recycled supply, and while it may take some time, close to 100 percent of the state’s golf courses will be irrigating with something other than “drinking water” eventually. The arc of this story may be long, but it is fast bending toward universal non-potable reuse.

For almost as long, the industry’s Cassandras have been warning that well before the “story” plays out, potable reuse promises to crowd out the golf industry’s access to recycled water, shutting down long-planned extensions of purple pipe and diverting recycled deliveries upon expiration of agreements. And for almost as long as that, the golf industry has been ignoring its Cassandras — or perhaps not so much ignoring as assuming that potable reuse was much further in the future than they were suggesting.

Well, the only thing these prophets may have gotten wrong was just how rapidly the era of potable reuse would be upon us.

The Las Virgenes Water District (Calabasas), which has been supplying nearby Calleguas Water District in Ventura County and a number of its golf courses (Sherwood CC, North Ranch CC and Westlake Village GC) with recycled water for years and was planning to do the same for Los Angeles Water & Power just to its east, has withdrawn from the “purple pipe” business in favor of a massive potable reuse program.

Los Angeles Water & Power has resolved to do the same in the San Fernando Valley by diverting extant flows to a massive Northeast Valley replenishment plan made possible by the monies provided by the recent state water bond. Longstanding plans to extend the Los Angeles-Glendale recycled source to Pasadena’s golf courses and parks have been placed on indefinite hold.

East Bay Municipal Utilities District in the San Francisco Bay Area, which services scores of golf courses, is suspending all recycled activity pending the completion of a new strategic plan sure to contain a significant potable reuse component. Orange County, which constructed the first potable reuse processing facility in the state, is going to be using state water bond money to significantly expand that facility’s reach, which will likely stifle future recycled activity.

Where aquifers make replenishment a viable strategy for increasing local domestic supply and surpluses accomplish the same end through more direct means, we are starting to see a move away from the construction of expensive purple pipe recycled conveyances in favor of various schemes of potable reuse — what used to be called “toilet to tap.” This poses a big challenge to a golf industry reliant upon supplies other than potable for political survival. As the population grows, the costs rise, the climate warms and droughts ensue, golf is going to find itself scrambling in a morass of competing interests for that precious potable water, most of which can lay higher public claim to it.

Now would be the time to consider the upshot of all of this — not just for those golf courses that had hoped to gain recycled access at some future time, but for those golf courses whose recycled contracts will be coming up for renewal. It behooves the former class of golf courses to begin contemplating what comes next in an environment sure to become increasingly hostile to “watering golf courses with drinking water.” It behooves the latter class to approach their water suppliers with entreaties to extend extant contracts before they come due.

And it behooves all of us to pay closer heed to those who preach the need to think in blocks of time longer than the next quarter.

Previous Article

A Gonzo Conversation with Max Baer, Jr.

Next Article

In the Beginning, There Was Golf

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Craig Kessler

Craig came to the SCGA via the merger with the Public Links Golf Association (PLGA), where he served as Executive Director for 11 years and pioneered the development of the nation’s most active and accomplished advocacy component. He has been tasked with doing the same for the SCGA as its first Director of Governmental Affairs, albeit on a much larger stage. In addition to his current and previous job responsibilities, Craig has served as a USGA Committeemen continuously for 15 years, Chair of the Los Angeles Golf Advisory Commission, Chair of the Los Angeles County Golf Advisory Committee, Member of the City of Los Angeles’ Griffith Park Master Plan Board, Member of the Ventura Golf Advisory Group, Member of the Los Angeles County Junior Golf Foundation Board of Directors and Chair of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce First Tee of Los Angeles Advisory Committee. In 2008 Craig was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Related articles More from author

  • crystal-ball
    Public AffairsWinter 2016

    The Crystal Ball on 2016: New Year, New Legislative Session

    January 1, 2016
    By Craig Kessler
  • Fall 2022Public Affairs

    From Crisis to Confidence: The Southern California Golf & Water Summit

    October 25, 2022
    By Craig Kessler
  • drought
    Public AffairsSummer 2015

    Golf Industry Poised to Meet Drought Challenge

    July 1, 2015
    By Craig Kessler
  • Fall 2017Profiles

    A Gonzo Conversation with Max Baer, Jr.

    October 23, 2017
    By T.J. Simers
  • california
    Public AffairsSpring 2016

    The Wages Of Indifference: Game’s Failure to Honor Public Sector Hurts Growth Efforts

    April 1, 2016
    By Craig Kessler
  • Public AffairsSummer 2019

    The Strange Case of Glyphosate (Roundup)

    July 25, 2019
    By Craig Kessler

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • FeaturedSustainabilityWinter 2023

    Sun Spot: Indian Wells Golf Resort Goes Solar

  • FeaturedProfilesWinter 2023

    Don’t Bet Against Jesse: The Double-Amputee War Veteran has Overcome Injury and Addiction on his Way to a Winning Career in Golf

  • FeaturedProfilesWinter 2023

    A Modern Throwback: Cole Young Calls his Own Shots

  • FeaturedFirst CutWinter 2023

    Talking It Out: What’s a Round Without a Recap?

  • FeaturedPublic AffairsWinter 2023

    Grass by Design: Pure Research Yields New Strains of Drought-Tolerant Grass

FeaturedThe PodiumWinter 2023

Changing of the Guard: New Galleri Classic Set to Debut in the Desert

In what can be viewed as an unprecedented, albeit unofficial baton pass, the Coachella Valley is trading one pro golf tour for another this spring. As many will recall, last ...
  • New Year’s Daze: Looking Forward and Looking Back at your Handicap

    By Kevin O'Connor
    February 7, 2023
  • Grass by Design: Pure Research Yields New Strains of Drought-Tolerant Grass

    By Craig Kessler
    February 7, 2023
  • Best Ball Bar & Grill: Woodley Lakes GC Gets a Big Culinary Upgrade

    By David Weiss
    February 7, 2023
  • Making a Future in Golf a Reality: Skylar Graham and the Pathways Internship

    By Ken Van Vechten
    February 7, 2023
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise