Governor Brown Initiates Mandatory Water Reductions For The First Time In State History

April 01, 2015

In an effort to respond more vigorously to four years of drought punctuated by the lowest snowpack in recorded history, Governor Brown has directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions in an effort to reduce water usage by 25 percent over the next nine months.

Among the specifics of the Governor’s order was the following language about golf:

“Require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to make significant cuts in water use.”

As with all matters concerning water allocation, enforcement and policy, “significant” will be defined and then enforced by the state’s water providers. Many if not most of them already have their “large landscapes” on restrictions. This order will not make a qualitative change to that; however, quantitative changes are anticipated. Los Angeles Water & Power, which like so many large urban water providers put their golf courses on a water diet long before the current crisis, will likely heap another five percent atop those dietary restrictions, taking them from 20 percent to 25 percent reductions. Other jurisdictions will likely follow in parallel fashion – adding a greater percentage reduction on top of current reductions in an effort to align the golf courses they serve with the Governor’s goals.

The golf industry expected this shoe to drop. The lack of not only a “March miracle” but any appreciable precipitation whatsoever in March all but guaranteed it.

“Through investment in water saving irrigation technologies, education in water resource management and engagement with water districts and governments throughout the region, the golf industry is about as ready as any turf dependent industry can possibly be to handle these reductions,” said Craig Kessler, director of governmental affairs for the SCGA. “The region’s superintendents have become quite adept at making due with less, and nothing about the Governor’s order will affect the playability of the region’s golf courses beyond the merest of cosmetic concerns.”