The Arizona Alliance for Golf is a wide and diverse coalition representing nonprofit entities, individual courses, players, industry leaders, and the hospitality industry. The Alliance supports smart water management and the golf industry’s responsibility to actively participate in Arizona’s water usage reductions. Sustainable water stewardship has always been inextricably linked to golf course management in Arizona, in that golf has real economic incentive to reduce water use, engage in turf grass and seed research and implement best practices.
Golf represents less than 2% of Arizona’s water consumption, and the industry will continue to lead and innovate to ensure golf remains one of Arizona’s top economic drivers. The industry represents 4.6 billion dollars of annual economic impact, providing almost $400 million in annual tax revenue, supporting the state’s hospitality industry, employing more than 51,000 Arizonans, and allowing more than 500,000 active Arizona golfers to enjoy the sport.
Most recently, the Alliance has been engaged in discussions with the state of Arizona in developing the 5th Management Plan, the next step in the state’s water management process. The Alliance has submitted ideas to meet the state’s objective of reducing golf’s groundwater usage, and has also proposed the establishment of benchmarks for future water use decisions using a data driven and science-based approach. These benchmarks include partnering with the Arizona Department of Water Resources to update each course’s water source whether it be effluent, groundwater, municipal, or other, and accurately recording each course’s total turf acreage. In addition, the Alliance will be looking to other western states to evaluate tools they have created to incent reductions in golf course turf.
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