Response by Arizona Alliance for Golf to story on water use in Arizona

Golfweek recently ran a story with the headline “Arizona golf courses use more water than they’re supposed to. Nothing is stopping them,” which originally ran on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic newspaper. All of those media outlets are a part of the USA Today network.

The report took a look at how much water golf courses in Arizona were using, the source of the water, the allocations allotted and what, if any, enforcement mechanisms existed to crack down on any potential bad actors.

In response to the story, the Arizona Alliance for Golf sent a statement to The Republic and Golfweek, rebutting many of the points raised in the story.

The statement was signed by The Arizona Alliance for Golf, Arizona Golf Association, Visit Phoenix, Southwest Section PGA of America, Cactus & Pine Superintendents Association, National Golf Course Owners Association (Arizona Chapter), Greater Southwest Chapter, Club Management Association of America, Junior Golf Association of Arizona, First Tee of Phoenix and The Thunderbirds, a community organization that runs the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

We are running the statement in its entirety here:

What a disappointment. The story “Arizona golf courses use way more water than they’re supposed to. Nothing is stopping them” by Balint Fabok published July 28^th could have been an opportunity for an insightful and important discussion of water use by one of the state’s leading industries. Unfortunately, it was not. Rather, it reads as a biased commentary that lacks understanding of significant current industry and water conservation practices and uses incomplete data to reach half-truths and mischaracterizations.

The assertion Arizona golf courses “use way more water than they are supposed to,” is simply unfair and untrue. Our industry uses just 1.3% of Arizona’s CAP water. We make significant contributions to the state and courses strive to use our water allotment as efficiently as possible each year. The Arizona Department of Water Resources offers an excellent interactive dashboard of water use. A quick look at its charts shows (while a few courses may sometimes exceed their individual allotment) the industry as a whole has consistently used less water than the conservation allotments.

The article also states total water usage by all golf courses in Arizona has not significantly changed between 2002 and 2020. By itself this statement is accurate. However as presented, it is…