In October, a six-month revocable permit for using the line, which has been idle since 1997, was issued to Foothills Golf Group, which operates the Phoenix, Ariz. course. But evaluation is still underway and a new well might have to be drilled to tap into the pipeline as a long-term solution. The cost of evaluation alone is estimated at $500,000, but it could still pay off for the club, which now pays $600,000 a year to the city for water and is facing a 25 percent rate increase.

Wilson Gee, the owner of the now-shuttered Phoenix club, is taking responsibility for a barbed wire chain-link fence surrounding the property that forces pedestrians off the sidewalk. Gee says he purchased the fence to protect himself from liability from the open lakes on the property, though he did not realize the fence had barbed wire or that it would be placed curbside.