Should our precious water be used to water the grass at the Golf courses?

Question

Should our precious water be used to water the grass at the Golf courses?

Answer 1

There will always be enough water for the people who can pay for it.  Shortage? excuse to raise your monthly bill.

Answer 2

Well since the Golf Course pays for it it's THEIR water. BTW it has never been YOURS or OURS.

Should the water which rightly belongs to farmers be wasted on lawns and swiming pools ?

Answer 3

presently many golf courses when built have under ground tiles to collect the water and divert it back to the holding ponds so during rain and watering the water is collected underground and sent back to the ponds.In essence it is the ultimate in recycling and reuse.(I am not a golfer and I do believe that the land wasted for golf courses can be better utilized,but this is one thing they have done right)

Answer 4

yes and water to wash my hummer too

Answer 5

Yup, definitely. And the baseball/football/soccer fields too.  Plus we can waste it on corn to go toward fuel, and not for food.

Answer 6

If the water is reclaimed sewage waste water, we might be willing to spend it on irrigating the grass.

Yet it would be a better use to  irrigate a forest, not because the forest would look better, though it might too, but because the CO2 captured would remain sequestered for a long time. By contrast the grass on the golf course  will decompose and return the CO2 to the atmosphere in less than a year.

Watering the golf course then causes only a very short term sequestration of CO2, not worth spending precious water on.

Who owns the water? Well, we might assume that whoever owns the land on which rain falls would own the water.  But if the owner allows that water to sink into an aquifer that can be tapped by several surrounding properties, does the water become common property? And if so, common to whom? Everyone in the state?

Clearly we can not say that people who do not own land have no right to any water. That kind of thinking would bring about bloody riots and anarchy. There is an obvious public interest in the water, and who paid what amount for it, and to whom it was paid can  not remove the right of all to a reasonable share of water.

The fact that water comes from your well does not mean it is necessarily your water. The fact that you dammed up a stream keeping  water from flowing  does not give you exclusive right to it.

But society really does want to have you conserve water by keeping it from flowing away, by damming it where appropriate or by ponding it. Society then should find ways to induce private land owners to use their land in that way.

But no, grass does not appear to be a priority use of water when food growing and forests are crying out for irrigation.

Answer 7

no, parks, golf course grass consumes more water and maintenance instead of these grass we should be putting up trees or other "more important" plants..

it doesn't mean that because it's grass it's good ofr the environment. there should be a sustainbale way of landscapping.

Answer 8

Keeping all plants watered will keep them healthy so they can remove CO2 from the atmosphere.  The true waste of water is swimming pools, water parks, carwashes, long showers, continuously flowing toilets, fountains, dripping faucets, hosing down the driveway, leaving the water running when you brush your teeth or shave, leaving the sprinklers going at home, etc.  All of the golf courses in the world are just a drop in the bucket compared to all this.

Answer 9

Of course how else are you going to keep it green?  Most golf courses use water from their own wells. If the golf course wasn't there the water wouldn't be there.

  We could lower our quality of life and not have golf courses or water parks. We could also get rid of all sports from little league up to the professional level since most of them are played outdoors on grass.

Answer 10

Well, it ends in the soil  . I don`t think it`s a waste

Answer 11

If non-potable water is used to water the golfcourse, that is best. Most of it respires back into the atmosphere or trickles into the water table. Have a lot of cool grassy land for recreation is a lot better than building a mall or amusement park.

Answer 12

Eventually push will come to shove and this will have to be addressed.  Some grasses are more drought tolerant than others, and artificial turf for the greens are totally doable concepts.  

Eventually, water for such luxuries as golf courses will be priced accordingly.  Golf courses wishing to appeal to most golfers may well have to incorporate alternative designs and/or artificial turf to keep the game going as it is now.