That rate is what users pay for reclaimed water. The city shut down a water reclamation plant that fed the Club West course in the 1990s because of high operating costs and an inability to produce enough water. That left only more expensive city drinking, or potable, water as the only option for the Club West course.
Full Answer
The reductions in allotments apply to all courses that use groundwater, some of which also use water from other sources. The analysis by the Department of Water Resources showed its proposal would mean an overall decrease of 1.3% in the aggregate water allotments of all golf courses in the Phoenix area.
The latest proposal by the Arizona Department of Water Resources would require Phoenix-area golf courses that use groundwater to reduce their total combined water use by 3.1% compared to current allotments under a previous plan.
Managers of some Arizona golf courses are fighting a plan that would cut water use at a time when the state is being forced to confront shrinking water supplies.
The group also says Arizona’s golf industry is a national leader in water conservation and “must be part of both the conversation and the solution” as state officials debate the future of water use. Mark Woodward raised those points during the meeting.
PHOENIX – In parts of northern Arizona, golf courses over the past decade have stopped using drinking water to keep their greens vibrant. Instead, they use effluent or recycled water. However, in Phoenix, less than a quarter of the water used on golf courses is reclaimed wastewater.
The Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course has been a wasteland for more than seven years but owner Wilson Gee said he is working to have it restored a full year ahead of a deadline for its rebirth that was set by a judge.
Nationwide, approximately 13% of golf courses use recycled water for irrigation. More facilities would gladly convert to using recycled water, but the main limitation is the lack of a piping system to deliver the recycled water to golf courses, which can cost $1 million per mile or more to install.
In fact, an increasing number of courses are using effluent water – often referred to as “gray water.” Government regulations and water availability have led to the increased use of gray water at golf facilities, says Brian Vinchesi, design engineer at Irrigation Consulting Inc., Pepperell, Mass.
Wilson Gee - Managing Member - Ahwatukee Golf Properties, LLC | LinkedIn.
The large expanses of turfgrass grown on golf courses can absorb relatively large amounts of nitrogen and other nutrients often found in recycled water. This characteristic of turfgrass can minimize the chances of groundwater con- tamination from recycled irrigation water.
Golf courses use a variety of water sources for turfgrass irrigation including groundwater, surface water (lakes, rivers and reservoirs), recycled water, and municipal potable water supplies.
In California, an average 18-hole golf course sprawls over 110 to 115 acres and conservatively uses almost 90 million gallons of water per year, enough to fill 136 Olympic-size swimming pools, said Mike Huck, a water management consultant who works with golf courses statewide.
Government statistics show that golf courses in and around Phoenix consume more water than any other place in the country. Maricopa County golf courses averaged more than 80 million gallons daily for irrigation, according to a 2010 U.S. Geological Survey report.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. golf courses consume more than 2 billion gallons of water per day, and since one in every 17 of U.S. courses is located in arid and semi-arid California, our 921 courses consume a sizable chunk of that total daily.
An average 18-hole golf facility in the Southwest region uses an average of 4 acre-feet of water per irrigated acre per year.
Buschatzke began with an overview of Arizona’s worsening water challenges, including the declining reservoirs of the Colorado River, which store water that flows through the Central Arizona Project Canal to desert cities from Scottsdale to Tucson.
One subject that came up only once during the meeting was climate change, when Buschatzke briefly uttered the words and referred to the “long-term effects finally hitting us from the drier future.”
That will shrink the amount flowing through the CAP Canal to farmlands in Pinal County that produce cotton, hay and other crops. In a first-level shortage, the water supplies of Arizona’s cities are protected from cuts under the state’s plan.
On National Golf Day several years ago, Ducey's office said in a statement that "Arizona is a hole-in-one for golfers" and that it's "a real boon for our economy.". The membership of the Arizona Alliance for Golf also includes a public entity that manages Phoenix's public courses.
Buschatzke replied that he and his staff “recognize the need to have a program that allows the golf industry to continue to move forward.” He said they’ll continue to accept comments about any of the proposals.
Still, the Arizona Department of Water Resources only receives reported figures from those 240 golf courses within the five active management areas. The rest of Arizona imposes no measuring and reporting requirements.
By state law, Hilgart said, golf courses are limited to about 90 acres of turf if they rely on groundwater, but “During peak hot weather months, (a course) could be using a million gallons a day.”.
Hilgert said construction of the pipeline should be completed by the end of 2018, and the pumping station will be finished in March of next year. Non-potable water costs 40 percent less than drinkable water, so the courses stand to benefit over time.
Scott Cohen practices at the Pointe Tapatio Lookout Mountain Golf Club, one of two private courses that have partnered with Phoenix to wean themselves off potable water for irrigation. (Photo by Ellen O’Brien/Cronkite News)
EPA research shows groundwater, CAP water and surface water are considered drinkable – but effluent, or reclaimed wastewater, can be reused to water golf courses with the right infrastructure. “A lot of other parts of the Valley, like north Scottsdale, are not on potable water,” Hilgart said. “A lot of them are in fact on treated effluent ...
For example, Moon Valley Country Club and Pointe Tapatio Lookout Mountain Golf Club have been using drinking water since their respective openings: Moon Valley in the early 1960s and Lookout Mountain in 1989. But a few years ago, Moon Valley found itself on the verge of bankruptcy because of the cost of watering its golf courses.
Although golf courses in the state’s five active management areas get water from a variety of sources, Arizona as a whole still relies heavily on groundwater needed for drinking and other uses by residents, state officials said. Arizona Water Distribution by AMA - Infogram. “Groundwater is about 48 percent,” said Jeff Tannler, ...
If more private courses switch their source from drinking water to treated wastewater, more groundwater could be protected. “The effluent use has increased over the years as more golf courses have the infrastructure available to them for effluent or reclaimed use,” Tannler said.
Arizona golf courses turn to water reuse. Two Phoenix golf courses, Lookout Mountain Golf Club and Moon Valley Country Club, have partnered with the city of Phoenix to build a pipeline pulling recycled wastewater from the Arizona Canal to their respective courses.
The pipeline is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 and long-term will reduce the privately-owned courses’ water costs by approximately 40%, compared to groundwater which currently maintains their greens. According to a 2016 report by the Arizona Department of Water Resources, nearly three-quarters of water used by all Arizona golf courses ...