The California Department of Water Independent Technical Panel (ITP) on Demand Management Measures met in San Diego, Calif. on March 4 to discuss recommendations on landscape water use reduction and efficiency.
Craig Kessler, governmental affairs director for the Southern California Golf Association and I represented the golf industry at the meeting, providing the panel with recommendations and comments on areas of concern.
Following the meeting, we submitted written comments on behalf of the California GCSA and the California Alliance of Golf. In particular, we focused our comments in opposition to the lowering of the ETAF from 1.0 to .8 and the limiting of turf on slopes from the current 25 percent to 10 percent.
While many of our facilities in the state already irrigate at .8 or lower in some areas, keeping the ETAF at 1.0 gives our industry flexibility in dealing with budgets and potential water restrictions based on the Maximum Applied Water Allowance (MAWA). Additionally, keeping the ETAF at 1.0 will allow those facilities that experience a high volume of traffic the ability to fully irrigate and recover from the abuse of this traffic.
Additionally, slopes of 25 percent on a golf course are very functional and serve as an integral part of the game of golf. With the advances in irrigation technology (particularly controllers) and the use of wetting agents, superintendents have the ability to effectively irrigate these slopes while eliminating runoff.
Other comments included increasing a potential tax credit cap (currently proposed at $10,000) on turf replacement and eliminating any potential landscape certification and continuing education requirements that could be placed on golf course superintendents by the Department of Water Resources.
The ITP will now take the comments from the various stakeholder groups and create a final report that will be submitted to Legislature.
See the draft report of the ITP's recommendations.
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