One of the funnier ongoing skits on “Saturday Night Live” was “The Coneheads,” where Dan Aykroyd’s character referred to earth people as “carbon-based life forms.” Of course, this referred to the fact that all of us are mostly carbon and water. As we learn more about the universe, the key search for life revolves around the presence (or lack of) liquid water.
It always intrigued me that whenever I played golf in the Southwest or Florida, all I ever heard about were water shortage problems. Yet there seemed to be ever-expanding construction of golf courses and communities built around golf courses. The two issues seemed to be mutually exclusive.
What is going on here? How do you reconcile these two seemingly opposing dynamics?
I think political writers and environmentalists never took a course in physics. (For the record, neither did I). They would like to convince you that our stewardship of this irreplaceable resource is faulty, that we are wasteful, or as always…it’s a result of global warming.
But water doesn’t disappear—it just goes to different places based on weather, environmental alteration (not destruction), and brilliant (or foolish) engineering. The only thing that happens to water is that it evaporates, leaches into the aquifers, or is diverted to places we either want it to go, or not to go.
But matter cannot be created or destroyed. So increasingly, there is no question we will be competing for water resources in the future. The real issue will be the cost of these resources (mostly in terms of transport), not the global availability.
We have always devoted ample space in Club & Resort Business to water management issues, including our July 2007 cover story (“Water: Golf’s Sink-or-Swim Issue”) and the year-end wrapup in this issue (pg. 50). We will continue to give this subject extensive coverage (starting with our Course & Grounds feature in the January 2008 issue), because there is no more important issue facing any golf facility today. Water and water management will be the touchstones of good course management for the foreseeable future, and we all know we must adhere to all issues involving our water sources and use.
There is exciting new technology in the research stage that can help us manage water resources almost exactly to its needs and uses. It is incumbent on all of us in the the club industry to be fully educated on all aspects of water management, its future, and what is coming down the pipeline (no pun intended).
During the planning stages of D-Day during World War II, General Eisenhower commented that “… prior to the planning for D-Day, I never heard of landing craft. Now, I think of little else.” I think his words are appropriate to the issue of water availability and usage today. We hope you find our continuing coverage of this subject useful to your efforts in this area, and will welcome your comments and feedback on your own experiences.
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