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Water back on in Georgia
Chalk one up for the power of proactive thinking.
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GCM file photo |
Superintendents in the state of Georgia scored a historic victory for the industry in late May when the state issued an order exempting golf courses from most of the suffocating water restrictions that had been in place in 55 counties since last September, restrictions enacted as a result of unprecedented drought conditions that have plagued the region for several years.
The original restrictions, part of the state’s Level IV drought response plan, shut off almost all golf course irrigation in the affected areas, save for greens. The new exemptions, issued by the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, do come with conditions, but essentially return the game to where it was before the implementation of the restrictions. In essence, the water is back on in Georgia.
Golf is the only commercial user of water to receive such widespread exemptions. And that preferred status is almost certainly a result of more than six years of hard work on the part of the Georgia GCSA in establishing a strong working relationship with state legislators and regulators, a process that cemented a reputation for superintendents as careful and responsible users of water.
“The patience and persistence of those who have fought for drought relief for golf has paid dividends,” wrote GGCSA president Mike Crawford, CGCS at the TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., in an e-mail message to chapter members. “We are now realizing the benefits of this hard work.”
Following four years of drought conditions that ended in 2002, superintendents in Georgia mobilized to take an active leadership role in water issues on a legislative level. They formed a task force that worked to keep golf classified as an agriculture water user in the eyes of the state and published a pair of informational booklets about golf’s economic and environmental role in Georgia. The chapter also played a key role in the formation of the Georgia Allied Golf Council, which led to a more permanent lobbying presence for the game at the state capital in Atlanta.
Maybe the most important outgrowth of this activism, though, was the GGCSA’s work with the Department of Natural Resources on a water-conservation initiative that encouraged Georgia golf courses to submit written Best Management Practices for water conservation to both the chapter and the EPD. The program eclipsed its goal of 75 percent participation from GGCSA members by the deadline of May 2007, and today, 96 percent of GGCSA members have submitted BMPs.
“We wanted to do the right thing and work with the state toward a solution,” Crawford told GCM. “We didn’t know if it was going to happen, but we actually got relief, workable relief that is going to keep our businesses alive. It couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Under the new exemptions, courses with proper permitting and BMPs filed with both the GGCSA and the EPD will be allowed to irrigate from April through November utilizing a 35 percent reduction in water use that had been previously agreed upon as a part of the BMP process. And, as Georgia continues to struggle with drought conditions that are worse now than in 2002, irrigation will be allowed between midnight and 10 a.m. each day, but there will be no restrictions placed on what days courses can irrigate. Greens, like before, remain fully exempt.
Aspiring filmmakers have until Sept. 1 to submit an entry into Rain Bird’s 2008 Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition and a chance at a $6,000 or $3,000 cash prize. The competition accepts narrative, documentary, animated, experimental and student-made short films (between one and 10 minutes) that explore methods and ideas to responsibly manage and utilize water. Finalists will be selected and invited to a screening event in October in Los Angeles. All entries must be submitted electronically no later than Sept. 1 for consideration. For more information, visit the 2008 Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition Web site, www.iuowfilm.com. A new Web site from the EPA gives users a view of dynamic, continuously updated tables and charts that summarize state-reported information by nation, individual states and waters, and for the 10 EPA regions. Available at www.epa.gov/waters/ir, the site is dedicated to water quality assessment and total maximum daily load information, including state-reported information on support of designated uses, identified causes and sources of impairment, identified impaired waters and the status of actions to restore impaired waters |
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