Due to tight state allocations and little rainfall, water will be in
short supply for Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc. golf courses this
summer, making it a bit more difficult to keep the grass green for the
third year in a row.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources, which manages groundwater
pumped from 10 different RCSC wells, allots RCSC 5,101.47 acre feet of
water for irrigation.
RCSC used more than the 5,101.47 acre feet conservation allotment in
2002, and agreed to use 882 acre feet less water from 2003 to 2009. RCSC
has used 582 acre feet less water through the end of 2007, which leaves
300 acre feet for 2008 and 2009.
“To accomplish this, the golf courses will have to cut back on
irrigation water by 150 acre feet in 2008 and 150 acre feet in 2009 to
complete the savings of 882 acre feet,” said John Snyder, RCSC Director
of Golf and Grounds.
Coupled with the limitation on groundwater use is the fact that golf
courses have gone more than 80 days without rainfall.
“It will be difficult to keep the grass green and growing on the golf
courses this summer, as well as to keep lakes such as Dawn Lake and
Viewpoint Lake full,” Snyder said.
To help stay within the water conservation allotments and offset the
lack of rainfall, RCSC will continue several programs put in place last
year including aerificiation and administering a wetting agent to the
golf courses.
Throughout June, RCSC will perform deep tine aerification at all golf
courses’ fairways. The process will open the fairways to allow
irrigation water into the soil and move down unwanted salt build-up away
from roots.
Also, RCSC will apply a wetting agent to each golf course. The wetting
agent improves infiltration of water into the soil helping reduce the
amount of water needed for irrigation.
In addition to the aerification process and wetting agent application,
RCSC will perform spot watering or syringing of golf course turf in the
afternoons. This is done to help keep moisture in the plants during the
low humid times of the day and keep from having to overwater areas that
receive enough irrigation from the night watering.
“The RCSC golf courses face probably the toughest year for rainfall in
recent history, but we’ll do our best to maintain playing conditions,”
Snyder said. “We ask cardholders for their patience as we implement and
perform these actions to offset the lack of rainfall and water
conservation allotment limits.”
RCSC owns and operates the recreational facilities. Maricopa County is
responsible for maintenance of roads and medians in Sun City.
Contact: Tim Gallen, RCSC Communications Coordinator, at
623-561-4616 or
