FURIOUS…Water vs Golf Argument RAGES ON in SOUTHERN UTAH

St. George Utah is a Mecca for Golfers. They come here from all over the country because of the unique setting and pristine courses Southern Utah offers.

In fact, the PGA and LPGA are coming to one of Southern Utah's newest courses Black Desert Resort in Ivins. The PGA will play there in 2024, the LPGA in 2025.

Just those tournaments alone are expected to bring in a ton of money according to Patrick Manning the managing partner at Black Desert.

“We are projecting somewhere between a $50 million and $70 million annual economic impact to the Greater Zion Region,” he said (per the Salt Lake Tribune).

That's a lot of dough. If we counted up the economic impact of the sport in general in Southern Utah that number is even bigger.

"The 14 golf courses in Washington County, including four owned by the city of St. George, attract nearly 600,000 visitors a year, generating $130 million dollars annually," according to Colby Cowan, director of Golf operations in the city of St. George. (HCN.org)

But there is a large contingent of locals who aren't happy with the amount of water being allocated to these courses.

According to Samuel Shaw's article "In the Utah desert, can golf justify itself?"

OF THE 10 THIRSTIEST golf courses in Utah, seven are in Washington County, according to an investigation by the Salt Lake Tribune. Some privately owned courses, including Coral Canyon Golf Course and SunRiver Golf Club, actually increased their water use between 2018 and 2022. The mercury tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit here more than 50 days each year, so it takes an exorbitant amount of water to keep the fairways lush year-round: about 177 million gallons annually for each course, or roughly eight times the national average. And if the region continues to grow at its current breakneck rate, existing water supplies — from wells, springs and the Virgin River — will be severely strained. That prospect has some local and state officials backing a proposed pipeline that would carry Colorado River water from the ever-shrinking Lake Powell to this corner of the Utah desert. (Link to Full Article)

My questions are: what percentage of water do golf courses use, how much of it is re-claimed water or water that is unusable for other purposes?

Where do you stand on this topic?