In a case of inadvertent cause and effect, a decrease in water use at a California prison is drastically reducing the supply of irrigation water on a nearby golf course and jeopardizing its future.
Dairy Creek Golf Course in San Luis Obispo, Calif., pumps water from three storage ponds that hold water from the California Men’s Colony, a local prison.
In 2011, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 109 to realign populations in overcrowded state prisons, and in 2014, voters passed Proposition 47 to reduce sentences for nonviolent property and drug crimes.
The legislation has led to a major reduction in the prison population and has negatively affected operations at Dairy Creek, says superintendent Josh Heptig. “The prison population decreased by almost half, until we lost 40 to 60 percent of our water in that period of time,” he says.
However, Bill Sessa, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, says the prison’s average population has only decreased from 6,700 prisoners in 2013 to 5,600 prisoners in 2016. Drought measures that Brown put in place have more notably affected the amount of recycled water going to Dairy Creek, he says.
Either way, the reduction in recycled water has disbarred crew at Dairy Creek from being able to irrigate fairways and rough throughout the summers, driving away golfers and losing the course revenue of approximately $600,000—or 60 percent, Heptig says.
Patrick Williams is a GCI contributing editor.