Unpacking the golf course deturfing issue

When the Boulder City Municipal Golf Course opened in 1973, it was a kind of golden age for golf as a suburban pastime.

It was a time when everyone’s dad had a set of clubs. When Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Gary Player were on TV every weekend and huge, grassy courses were opening up all over the deserted Southwest. Lake Mead was full, or close to it. Droughts were something that happened in other places in the world and talk of changing climate focused on what was described as a coming Ice Age and the population of Clark County was about 331,000.

A little more than 50 years later, the lake is some 200 feet below full, more than 2.3 million people call the region home and plans are being made for a possible future when there will not even be enough water flowing through the Colorado river to generate electricity.

And against that backdrop, a giant fight about water used for irrigation of golf courses has come to Boulder City as water authorities call for about one-third of the turf at what some have described as the “jewel of Boulder City” to be removed in the name of water conservation.

At a recent public meeting about the turf plans, residents put forward ideas about using wastewater to irrigate the course and called for the city to wait to take action until after the current old and leaky irrigation system is replaced.

But, here’s the deal. The water used to irrigate the course and the need to remove turf are two separate issues. In fact, according to city and Southern Nevada Water Authority officials, even if the municipal course were under the current budget for water use at golf courses (which it is not, by a significant amount), the turf would still have to go.

A tale of two issues

While both issues revolve around conserving what is an increasingly precious resource — Colorado River water —everything about them is separate, including the legal authority.

Prior to the early 1990s, there were seven separate, and often competing, water districts serving Clark County, of which Boulder City was one. The state Legislature created SNWA as a kind of umbrella organization to manage water issues for the entire region and gave the group the legal authority to do so. So, instead of managing its own water usage independently, Boulder City gets a representative on the SNWA board to advocate for its needs. Currently, the representative is City Councilmember Steve Walton.

As the water situation throughout the Southwest has become increasingly dire, SNWA took steps to conserve, several of which affected golf courses.

The biggest was a complete moratorium on the construction of new courses anywhere in Southern Nevada. But existing courses were also called upon to moderate their water consumption. In 2021, the water budget for golf courses called for them to use no more than 6.23 acre/feet of water per year per irrigated acre. An acre/foot of water is the amount of water it takes to cover one acre of land with one foot of water, about 326,000 gallons.

But, as of this year, that budget has been cut drastically. The current budget stands at four acre/feet per year per irrigated acre.

According to the presentation given at that public meeting by SNWA’s Conservation Services Administrator Patrick Watson, in 2021, the most current records available, Boulder City Municipal was using about 8.8 acre/feet per year per irrigated acre.

By way of comparison, according to the chart used in Watson’s presentation, North Las Vegas has three golf courses which accounted in 2021 for about 12 acre/feet per irrigated acre. Boulder City has three courses (two public, one private) which, in 2021, used almost 21 acre/feet.

Being that far outside of the water budget comes with a price. A big price. The municipal course uses more than double its budgeted water. And for every gallon more than the budget, Boulder City pays double the top rate for water. Above 120% goes up to five times the top rate and above 140% the penalty goes up to nine times the top rate.

According to city estimates, the coming reconstruction of the irrigation system for muni will save a significant amount of water, but not enough to get under the current water budget.

AB356

But even if the fix to the old irrigation system was enough to get the usage under the budget, the turf would still have to be removed.

In 2021, the state Legislature overwhelmingly passed Assembly Bill 356, which dealt with water being used to irrigate “non-functional turf.” Single-family residences are exempted, but everyone else has until January 1, 2027 to get rid of any turf not providing a “functional use.”

According to SNWA, this includes streetscape turf, frontage turf, turf on traffic roundabouts, turf in courtyards and turf between buildings. When it comes to golf courses, it means any turf in “non-playing” areas.

Which brings things to the current plans to remove about one-third of the existing turf at the municipal course.

Boulder Creek, which was opened in 2003 already used less water just due to its design. By that time, courses were being designed with more of an eye to the existing landscape.

Noted golf course architect Mark Rathert had a specific plan for the Boulder Creek project when he designed it.

“I am very proud of the golf course at Boulder Creek and it was our vision to create a golfing experience for the municipal golfer that would emulate traits found at the exclusive clubs in Las Vegas,” Rathert says. “The course design took advantage of the natural sandy terrain and was accentuated with lakes, streams and waterfalls to provide an oasis feel on many holes. The design promotes long-term sustainability for maintenance requirements, while also offering quality conditions at an affordable price per round.”

In contrast, an SNWA spokesperson described Boulder City Municipal as a “more old-school design that was all turf.”

Wastewater woes

One of the issues raised more than once at the most recent public meeting was the idea of using part of the more than 300 million gallons of wastewater Boulder City sends to evaporation ponds in the desert every year to irrigate golf courses and parks. And that may happen.

Boulder City is the only municipality in the greater Las Vegas area that does not recycle wastewater. Back in 2020, SNWA proposed building —and paying for —a six-mile pipeline from Boulder City to Henderson which would carry BC wastewater to a location where it could be injected into the system that sees more than 90% of indoor wastewater from the region cleaned, treated and returned to Lake Mead allowing the water to be redrawn from the lake over and over to support local needs.

But city officials turned the proposed project down. Then-mayor Kiernan McManus was quoted in the Review four years ago saying, “It is clear to me that the project being proposed is not with the intent to reclaim the water but is actually for the purpose of supporting rapid development of the Eldorado Valley below Railroad Pass. What is even more concerning to me is the stated intent of the SNWA to force changes to the conservative growth policies that have benefited Boulder City for decades.”

Last year, the city agreed to a feasibility study for wastewater to be conducted by SNWA. The previously-proposed pipeline appears to still be off the table, but proposals for irrigation use as well as the construction of an injection well for returning treated BC wastewater to Lake Mead are being studied.

According to SNWA, they expect to have the results of that study by the end of this year and to share those with the city council during the first months of 2025.

Next steps

The members of the public, who were strongly and vocally opposed to any changes at the municipal course, were encouraged to write down their thoughts about the current turf reduction plan. Those written thoughts will be compiled by staff for the city council, which will discuss the turf reduction in a future meeting.

Mayor Joe Hardy, and council members Walton and Sherri Jorgensen, were all at the meeting.

In response to a request for comment, Walton said, “It was very helpful for me to be present at the town hall meeting and directly hear concerns from our residents, including those that live adjacent to the golf course. Accomplishing the requirements of AB356 can complicated, especially for a community as small as Boulder City.

“The information provided by SNWA last Monday night was helpful to clarify some of the aspects to a certain extent. City council now has the opportunity to work with residents and staff to find the best solution which balances following our adopted water conservation ordinance, as well as the integrity of the aesthetics, playability, and inherent qualities of the municipal golf course. Boulder City has been a good steward regarding water conservation efforts, yet there is more required as a result of recent legislation. In addition, I am looking forward to council receiving the results of the wastewater feasibility study later this year, so we may consider which conservation effort might serve Boulder City best: direct reuse of water for irrigation, or returning treated wastewater to Lake Mead.”