Desert Sun to Conduct Community Forum re Golf and Water Use

December 06, 2013

The Desert Sun has done a series of articles about groundwater depletion in the Coachella Valley, many of which have focused upon the role of the golf industry. The Valley may not have a permanent population more than 300,000 souls, but it is home to 124 golf courses, a ratio that no other region of California can come close to matching.

In conjunction with that series the Desert Sun is hosting a series of community forums to encourage dialog regarding water use, recycling efforts, canal mixing, long-term supply, and conservation. The next forum focuses upon golf in general and golf course use of groundwater in specific.

6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 10
Indio Senior Center
45-700 Aladdin St., Indio
Free admission

Among the panelists are Stu Rowland, Director of Golf Course Operations, Rancho La Quinta Country Club, and President of the Hi-Lo Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association, Rick Sall, Golf Course Superintendent Toscana Country Club, Larry Bohannon, veteran golf writer for the Desert Sun, Joan Taylor, Conservation Chair Sierra Club, and Patti Reyes, Manager of Planning and Special Programs, Coachella Valley Water District.

Desert Sun Environment Reporter Ian James will moderate.

The community forum comes just six days before a representative contingent of the golf industry, a contingent inclusive of the SCGA, meets with the Water District to form a “Coachella Valley Golf Industry Water Conservation Task Force” capable of more than mere “dialog.” The plan according to SCGA Director of Governmental Affairs Craig Kessler is “to do in the Coachella Valley what the industry has done to great effect through parallel conservation task forces in Los Angeles and San Diego: Generate substantial water savings that are verifiable per state sanctioned budgeting methodologies.”