Official letter from Southern Nevada Water Authority:
Golf is often thought of as an individual sport, but when it comes to saving water in Southern Nevada, golf courses throughout the Las Vegas Valley have come together as a team and are at the forefront of the community’s successful water-conservation efforts.
Despite the common misconception that golf courses use large amounts of the community’s water, they in fact account for only 5 percent of our total water consumption. And with new conservation programs and policies in place, that percentage is expected to decline even further in the coming years.
For example, numerous golf courses have converted much of the grass in their out-of-play areas to attractive water-efficient, drip-irrigated landscaping through the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) Water Smart Landscapes Rebate program (WSL). Since 1999, 30 local golf courses have removed more than 900 acres of grass, saving more than 2.3 billion gallons of water annually.
Golf courses also have extended their water savings by converting existing grass in playable areas to warm-season turf, which uses 21 gallons less per square foot annually than cool-season grasses. Courses also employ weather stations linked to central irrigation computers, which adjust irrigation run times daily based on weather conditions, and they have professional irrigators on staff to make repairs to damaged or malfunctioning sprinklers.
Golf courses use a combination of potable, raw, reclaimed and recycled water to help extend the community’s supply. This effort is further enhanced by new water budgets which limit golf courses to 4 acre-feet of water per irrigated acre per year.
What can you do to help?
- Change your irrigation clock each season to comply with the seasonal watering restrictions
- Upgrade useless grass to water efficient landscaping
- Prevent and report water waste
For more information about the golf industry’s efforts to conserve water, and how you can contribute to this community-wide effort, visit snwa.com.
