State water board flags potable water use on Peninsula golf courses.

A news story in this week’s print edition looks at local golf course water use, especially in light of Gov. Jerry Brown’s order to force 25-percent cutbacks in urban water consumption statewide.

Brown's mandate draws specific attention to golf courses, cemeteries and parks, though it's been widely criticized for largely ignoring the agricultural uses that comprise the vast majority of California water use. 

Although the State Water Resources Control Board hasn't finalized the details yet, officials say the new regulations will apply to golf courses using potable irrigation water in California American Water’s Monterey District. Those two courses—the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course in Monterey, according to MPWMD General Manager David Stoldt—are under double the scrutiny.

Cal Am’s Monterey District which is facing a state order to cut back 70 percent of its Carmel River pumping.

In an email to Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett (who is Sacramento liaison for the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority), state water board Deputy Director Barbara Evoy specifically asked which of the district’s golf courses use potable water.

“Outdoor water use is one of the normal places one turns to to look for conservation,” Evoy later explains to the Weekly. “Everything doesn’t have to be the same level of greenness.”

Several of the district’s golf courses, notably those in Pebble Beach, use recycled water. The city of P.G. has a long-term plan to move its golf links to recycled water, too.

Many of the county’s other golf courses draw well water from the Carmel River, Seaside and Salinas Valley groundwater aquifers.

See the related news story for more.