How do golf courses keep Greens Green?
Keith Einwag, who tends the course at the Classic Club, said he's using as little water as possible to keep the greens green. The course is now irrigated mostly with recycled water, but using that water is a game of inches. A moisture meter now tells him precisely when to water the greens.
Can California’s golf course managers keep Greens Green amid drought?
As California grapples with a four-year drought and strict water restrictions, golf course managers are facing an uphill battle to keep the greens green, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy. The Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, is home to 124 golf courses; one of the densest concentrations in the country.
What has helped groundwater levels in the San Gabriel Valley?
Other factors that have helped groundwater levels include increased use of treated sewage to irrigate golf courses and parks. The valley's water districts provide recycled water through purple pipes – which are used to distinguish treated sewage from potable water – to 18 of the valley's 124 golf courses.
How do Palm Desert golf courses use so little water?
"We use as little water as possible, but at the same time we want to have a great course," said Michael McFarlane, co-owner of Shadow Mountain Golf Club in Palm Desert, an 18-hole course founded in 1956 that is one of the oldest in the valley. The course draws its water from a well and pumps it into a pond and to its sprinklers.
Where does Palm Springs get water for golf courses?
The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), which serves 105 of the golf courses, draws from the California Water Project, the Colorado River and the aquifer.
Where does golf course water come from?
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.
Does Palm Springs use reclaimed water?
Recycled water is used for irrigation on Palm Springs public golf courses, public properties, parks and schools. Desert Water Agency treats almost all of the wastewater in our area and delivers it to large irrigation customers.
Do California golf courses use reclaimed water?
Water-Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green And we're using reclaimed water in a very specific, measured way." A lot of golf courses use recycled or reclaimed water, but Friedlander says Pelican Hill is different. "We're here at the practice facility at Pelican Hill golf club.
How much water does a golf course in Palm Springs use?
about 1 million gallons a dayThe water district says that on average, each course uses about 1 million gallons a day.
Are golf courses being watered in California?
MORE: Megadrought out West expected to intensify, expand east: NOAA. Eight of the city courses are irrigated with recycled water, which does not fall under the state ordinances, but they are irrigating with a minimum of 25% reduction from the normal routine, Reinschmidt said.
Does Palm Springs have its own water source?
The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) relies on four sources of water to provide service to its customers: groundwater, recycled water, imported water from the State Water Project and the Colorado River via the Coachella Canal, a branch of the All-American Canal.
Does Palm Springs have a water problem?
"It's hot, and it's been hot," agreed Metzger. She said the agency's own data show it has reduced water use by 12.4% since January 2021, and is still 20% lower than 2013, before the state's last major drought.
Does Palm Springs get water from the Colorado River?
Colorado River water flows into the White Water River and into replenishment ponds in Palm Springs, and the Mission Creek Groundwater Recharge facility in Desert Hot Springs.
Do golf courses use recycled water?
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.
How many gallons of water does a golf course use?
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.
Do golf courses use GREY water?
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.
Why do golf courses have ponds?
Many golf courses use their ponds as water retention devices that the irrigation system pulls from nightly. If it weren't for the ponds, the water bill of a single golf course could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of 12 short months.
Why do golf courses dye the water?
Clean it up with color. Use aquatic colorants to help beat algae and growth while masking trouble water elements on the course. Colorants and dyes have lots of uses on the turf, but they can also help manage a trouble water element on the course.
Why do golf courses need water?
Water use has a major influence on the playability of a golf course. Judicious water use that emphasizes firm, fast conditions is more enjoyable for all skill levels of golfers and is a goal that the USGA strongly supports.
How many golf courses are there in Coachella Valley?
The Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, is home to 124 golf courses; one of the densest concentrations in the country. There, fairways of green have given way to a harsh and barren desert. California residents are now dealing with a n... 01:53.
How many golf courses are there in California?
What I think it is, it's a beautiful green space for people to come and enjoy.". There are 866 golf courses in California. An average 18-hole course uses 90 million gallons of water each year. That's enough to fill 136 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Some courses are simply shutting down due to lack of water.
How many sprinkler heads are there on the golf course?
A moisture meter now tells him precisely when to water the greens. Each of the nearly 5,000 sprinkler heads on the course can be individually turned on.
Why are golf courses shutting down?
Some courses are simply shutting down due to lack of water. Others have stopped watering anything out of play. Yet two thirds of California's courses are still irrigated with drinking water. "We should not be using our drinking water supplies in order to effectively water a lawn.
Is California's golf course doomed by drought?
California's golf courses doomed by drought? As California grapples with a four-year drought and strict water restrictions, golf course managers are facing an uphill battle to keep the greens green, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy. The Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, is home to 124 golf courses; one of the densest concentrations in ...
What is the desert of Coachella Valley?
Water pumped from hundreds of wells has transformed the desert of the Coachella Valley into a lush patchwork of golf courses, farms, resorts and swimming pools. Those wells draw heavily from the underground aquifer year after year and have led to dramatic declines in water levels, posing serious long-term risks for the water supply.
How much has the DWA declined since 2007?
DWA's water consumption has declined 18 percent since 2007, and he said his agency has done everything in its power to prevent further declines in groundwater levels. "Things have gotten much better than they were," said Luker, who has worked for DWA for more than 20 years.
How much water will be in the Coachella Canal by 2026?
Deliveries of water through the Coachella Canal are projected to gradually grow from 368,000 acre-feet to 459,000 acre-feet per year by 2026. Based on average per-household usage of about two-thirds of an acre-foot, the additional amounts predicted would be enough water to supply about 136,000 homes.
How much rain does Coachella Valley get?
The Colorado Desert is one of the hottest and driest places in North America, and the Coachella Valley typically receives between 2 and 5 inches of rain a year. It is so dry that the history of the valley's development has been closely linked to finding new water supplies.
How deep was the Coachella Valley in 1970?
In a three-month investigation of water levels throughout the Coachella Valley, The Desert Sun found that the average depth of 70 existing wells across the valley in 1970 was 104.4 feet. As of this year, the average depth of 291 wells in the valley had dropped to 159.3 feet.
How much water has the aquifer lost?
Based on that estimate, the aquifer has lost about 13.5 percent of the total since the 1970s.
What color is the map of the world?
In his office at UC Irvine, Famiglietti opens his laptop and shows a colorful satellite map of the world, with shades of yellow, orange and red denoting declining aquifers and stretching across large swaths of the earth.
What is the name of the desert in California that was a drought in 1991?
This is from a 1991 Los Angeles Times story during the last major California drought: PALM SPRINGS — Like a mirage lurking in a dip in the highway, Palm Springs shimmers enticingly atop the Sonoran Desert, an impossibly green splotch on a canvas of tawny brown.
How much does Coachella Valley water cost?
With a base rate of from $1.16 to $1.83 per 100 cubic feet of drinking water, depending on the community, Coachella Valley water bills are far less than those in San Diego County, which are based on a rate of over $4 per 100 cubic feet, or San Francisco (over $5).
What is the story of California's water?
The California narrative about water is generally a tidy tale about the arid south scrambling to come up with water from the relatively wet north. But plenty of other angles deserve mention, starting with the fact that the state’s best-known desert communities — those in the Coachella Valley — have both cheap and plentiful water.
How much rain does Palm Springs get?
The truth is, Palm Springs — which gets just 5 inches of rain annually and sweats out 120-degree temperatures most summers — sits atop a vast sea of ground water, which has been carefully managed and now insulates the city from the effects of drought.
Is Palm Springs water rate a fraction of coastal cities?
Water rates a fraction of coastal cities. During the current drought, Palm Springs water officials are keeping a lower profile — and for good reason. The state government’s announcement Friday that it will put on hold some of the old rules that governed water apportionment in the Central Valley could foreshadow a full-on attack on labyrinth rules ...