Trends in Water Use and Conservation Practices on U.S. Golf Courses.

Since an initial survey was conducted in 2006, U.S. golf courses have reduced their water use by 21.8%, from a projected 2.379 million-acre feet/year to 1.859 million acre-feet of water per year. Factors contributing to this decrease include voluntary reductions in number of irrigated acres, reductions in number of golf facilities and water conservation practices. These practices allowed U.S. golf courses to use less water than predicted by evapotranspiration (Eto) values. There is dramatic regional variation in water use patterns across the U.S. The median amount of water used by an 18-hole golf course was lowest in the Northeast (0.62 acre feet/acre/year) and highest in the Southwest (3.97 acre-feet/acre/year), but on a course-by-course basis, water use ranged from no irrigation to more than 10 acre feet/acre/year. Regional variation was most heavily influenced by climate, due to the broad range of ETo and precipitation values among the study’s seven agronomic regions. Recycled water use has increased to approximately 25% of all water used on golf courses in 2013, from 14.7% in 2005. The cost of water has significantly increased since 2005 in 5 out of 7 regions, with the largest increases occurring in the cost of domestic and recycled water. Future decreases in golf course water use will likely depend on further development and implementation of water budgeting and water management plans, adoption of monitoring technology, further reductions in irrigated acreage and increased adoption of recycled water.