The atmospheric flows that began to tumble California right after Christmas have produced more than enough snow in the Sierra Nevada and rain everywhere else to relieve parts of the state that Mother Nature and the State Water Project depend on for the majority of their water needs dependent – not permanent relief, but a hiatus to regroup after the three driest years on record.
A good year can and will restore much of the lost reserve capacity in the 1,500 holding tanks (reservoirs) that California built in the first 70 years of the 20th century to meet the portion of Southern California’s imported needs required by the State Water Project is covered. However, a good year in California cannot and will not do much to raise the levels of these two mega-reservoirs known as Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which supply water from the Colorado Basin.
Water levels in both, which are at about 25% capacity, just above the “dead pool” in terms of their ability to generate electricity, will not rise much due to this one wet winter. And given that those numbers were at 50% in 2014, when the state was staring down its latest peak in the current 20-year mega drought, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the federal government gave the seven states that make it up Colorado Compact by the end of January to reach agreement on permanent assignment of 2 million to 4 million acre-ft allocation. Today’s hotter, drier conditions, which have led to the worst drought in the basin in 1,200 years, will not abate anytime soon.
That’s why on Jan. 11, the Coachella Valley golf community gathered more than 160 of its leaders in a room at Mission Hills Country Club to say hello to Coachella Valley Water District Director Peter Nelson and CVWD Assistant General Manager Robert Cheng to share the facts of these matters and what they hold for a golf community that has long benefited from a generous allotment of the Colorado River and sits on one of the deepest and richest aquifers in the world. The two are connected in ways that many outside of the golf community may not understand.
The cornerstone of the Coachella Valley’s very long-term water management plan for golf is weaning the golf community off pumping in favor of using raw water from the Colorado River to displace it — with the laudable purpose of keeping this rich aquifer in a state of replenishment. 54 courses already do this; 44 more are to be connected. Given the direct connection between the Colorado River’s raw water abstractions and the 120 golf courses in the region, the upcoming reduction in allocations will inevitably require corresponding reductions from the Coachella Valley golf community.
Golf can count and much more. We’ve been working with local water districts for years to wean ourselves off groundwater, switch to recycled water and reduce overall water use. It will not be too difficult to scale up these efforts to meet the higher bar set by the Colorado Basin sanctification.
Molly Duvall is the executive director of the Hi-Lo Chapter Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). Craig Kessler is the Director of Public Affairs for the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA)/Coachella Valley Golf & Water Task Force. Their email addresses are [email protected] and [email protected]
