Thank you, Palm Springs, for being such incredibly selfish and piggish water hogs, especially now, during the serious California drought. The Greater Palm Springs area, located in a baking desert, has 110 water guzzling golf courses. Palm Springs is by far the biggest per-capita residential area user of water in the state, which is unquestionably due to the huge numbers of golf courses pumping aquifers dry so a few overly-entitled rich people can play golf when it’s 110.
Verson uses a whopping 94,111 gallons per day per-capita. However it is entirely big industry, lots of meat packing plants and the like, with very few residents, and a history of corruption. I’m sure water issues are uppermost in their minds.
“There are things like differences in yard sizes, but quite frankly — this is something most people don’t want to admit — if you are in a wealthier community, people tend to use more water because it is inexpensive for them,” said Chris Brown, former executive director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council, a Sacramento nonprofit.
Water needs to be metered and when used for non-essential purposes like lawns in arid or semi-arid area, be expensive or banned. That goes triple for golf courses. California needs to get serious about water.