From The Denver Post (Caitlin Swieca):
Tom Woodard, now director of golf for the Foothills Park and Recreation District, was the director of golf for Denver in 2002. During that drought, the city mandated that courses water only tee boxes and greens, ignoring the pleas of golf officials to give them an inventory to work with. As a result, the city had to close three courses when they became too dry.
“I think even the water utilities learned a lot from that drought,” Woodard said this week. “The water board was under a lot of pressure because they didn’t want residents to see a lot of open space that was green while homeowners’ lawns were brown and burning up.” Since then, the city of Denver has given courses a water quota and has allowed course managers to decide where to water on their own.
Pam Smith, director of agronomy for the city of Denver, said the city’s courses have been operating under a 20 percent reduction in allocation, which was eased to 10 percent Wednesday. Greens, fairways and tee areas had not been affected by the reduction, she said. Watering in rough areas was reduced, and Smith said the areas were browned but not dead…
The 2002 drought also brought about a policy change in Aurora, according to Doug McNeil, the city’s golf manager. In 2002, area government officials placed the same restrictions on the city’s seven golf courses as they did on residents. McNeil said it was hampering the courses’ golf operations, and the next year, Aurora also switched to an allotment system. McNeil said the courses stay well under their water quota, having cut back on watering nonessential areas such as driving ranges and rough areas. Aurora’s Stage 1 drought has reduced the quota by 10 percent, but the allowance is still larger than what the courses normally use.
“I think, just in general, golf courses are allowed to be a little bit browner than they used to be,” McNeil said. “People like to have the manicured turf, but in reality, you can still have a very good playing surface with it being slightly drier.”
Foothills and The Meadows Golf Club operate from unregulated private water sources but still try to keep water usage low. Woodard estimated the district eliminated 15 percent of its irrigation, and the courses operate under a three-stage drought plan as conditions worsen.
From the Denver Business Journal (Cathy Proctor):
Denver Water’s board of directors on Wednesday declared a “Stage 1” drought, down from the Stage 2 drought it had declared on March 27. Wednesday’s decision removes the restriction that customers water lawns only two days a week, on assigned days, the agency said. A Stage 1 drought asks customers to conserve water, and limits lawn watering to three days a week if needed. Customers have the flexibility to choose which three days to water in response to weather patterns…
Aurora’s water department is discussing what to do about its existing water restrictions, which limit lawn watering to two days a week, said spokesman Greg Baker. Aurora’s water reservoirs are 65 percent full, compared to average, Baker said. Denver Water’s reservoirs are 92 percent full, compared to average, according to that agency…
Spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said the board didn’t move too quickly when it voted March 27 to institute Stage 2 drought restrictions limiting lawn watering to two days a week. “Stage 2 was appropriate based on the reservoir and snow pack at that point,” Chesney said. “We’re fortunate that this anomaly happened and we had a huge wet spring,” Chesney said. In late March, the snowpack that feeds Denver Water’s reservoirs and supply system was at 60 percent of normal and the state was undergoing extremely dry conditions and lower-than-normal reservoirs after a dry winter. Reservoir levels currently are at 92 percent of the average peak levels, and most of this year’s snowpack has melted — meaning not much more water is expected to fill the reservoirs this season, Denver Water said.