The California drought continues and continues

Mike Huck is a self-employed turfgrass consultant. While well versed in all aspects of turfgrass management, Mike focuses on turfgrass water quality and water management. Mike can be reached at mhuck@cox.net for more information.

Cark Throssell

Q: Describe the drought California is currently experiencing.

Officially, California is entering their fourth consecutive drought year. Unofficially, the drought in the Southwest started in the late 1990s and has continued with only a year or two of modest precipitation. California started to feel the water crunch in 2000 when the Federal Bureau of Reclamation mandated California reduce the amount of water taken from the Colorado River by 2016 to meet the terms of a 1922 water sharing agreement governing the Colorado River.

Only a small amount of snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada Mountains the last three winters, including 2015. Currently, reservoirs are about the same level as the spring of 2014. Snow pack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains provides much of the water used by the state.

The golf industry got involved in local water policy in 2009-2010 by proposing in Los Angeles to meet a targeted water use amount for each golf course by implementing water budgets. Within the water budget approach, an individual golf course can use water for the course as they determine appropriate, provided water use does not exceed their annually budgeted amount. Budgets are adjusted based on drought conditions and local water supplies. Similar programs have now been initiated across the state.

Water use in California is controlled locally. There are approximately 430 water districts in the state. Each water district has different water sources and because of that, water quality, quantity and even drought restrictions vary by district. So far the water districts that include Santa Cruz in the north and Santa Barbara in the south have limited water use to the greatest extent. There are golf courses in these areas experiencing a 50-percent reduction in their supplies and are the sentinels for the golf industry.

Q: What steps have golf courses implemented to reduce water use?

Golf courses started by reducing irrigation of driving ranges and rough. That concept has continued by reducing the irrigated acreage of fairways in extreme cases. Some superintendents are hand watering tee tops only and not the tee surrounds.

Many golf courses in coastal California are converting from cool-season to warm-season grasses. Others have removed irrigated turfgrass and replaced it with low-water-use plants, creating a more desert-style golf course.

Q: What has been the golfer reaction to these changes?

It varies depending on the location of the golf course. Golf courses in the Los Angeles area are embracing the necessary changes and are proud to be doing their part to conserve water. Golfers in the Palm Springs area are less enthused about the changes to save water at their golf courses.

Q: What’s coming in 2015?

Everyone believes more cutbacks are coming. They will most likely be announced by May after final snowpack data are released.

On the turf side, I think bermudagrass will be used more widely in southern California, winter overseeding will be reduced, more nonessential turf will be removed and drip-irrigated native plantings installed in its place. We all need to learn to tolerate a little brown and a little less total grass.

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

For the first time, drought is putting pressure on recycled water supplies. In the past, golf courses could use an unlimited amount of recycled water. Now, those recycled water sources are being looked at as a way to recharge groundwater, or with advanced treatment blended back into drinking water supplies.