There is no question that we are in the midst of drought in Western NC. In Highlands, where we normally average close to 100" of rain per year (and even had 139" three years ago), we've only received 53" of rain year to date. This means that if the same trend continues for the next three months, we'll finish the year just shy of 70" of rain for the 12-month period. The question I've been asked is, "would we ever run out of irrigation water?"
Let me first say that we finished our new irrigation system at a perfect time! Water conservation on golf courses starts with a well designed, efficient irrigation system. We are using far less water this year compared to years past. I do want to remind you however, that even the best irrigation systems are designed to supplement natural rainfall, not replace it.
In the past, I've said many times that water will be the #1 issue facing golf in the next 10 years. As you know, in most parts of the country, water is a sacred natural resource that is to be used wisely. It is in Highlands as well, but with our rainfall norms, it's always plentiful. In that regard, we are fortunate.
Could Highlands CC ever run out of irrigation water? Well, never say never. However, it's extremely unlikely! We are are fortunate to have a 8-acre lake on the property that is fed from groundwater and streams from a number of directions. In my 23 years at HCC, we've been through several droughts and I have never seen the lake where water wasn't flowing over the dam at Hudson Road. That would be our first major warning. If water stopped coming over the dam, I'd know immediately that we are using more water than can be naturally replenished each day. Again, I'm not saying it couldn't happen but it's never happened before. Our lake holds roughly 10,500,000 gallons of water. An average irrigation cycle in the evening, assuming we irrigated wall to wall, will use approximately 250,000 gallons. This means (theoretically, of course) we could sustain ourselves for 82 days (assuming we irrigate every other night) if all water was cut off, flowing into Club Lake. Again, highly unlikely!
Also unlikely is the Town of Highlands or the State of NC placing water restrictions on the Club. In the past, local government has asked citizens to conserve water but actual restrictions have never been put into place (in Highlands) that would affect the commercial use of water, that I am aware of. I say this wearing both my resident and commissioner hats. We do want to be mindful that Club Lake does flow into Lake Sequoyah (and is a major source of water to the lake), the Town of Highlands drinking water source, and we always want to be good neighbors. You might be asking yourself, don't we own Club Lake and can't we do with it what we want? The answer is a little complicated. According to the State of NC, we do own the lake but not the water in the lake. They control that. This is why technically, a North Carolina fishing license is required to fish on Club property. Obama, in his 2nd term, introduced WOTUS (Waters of the United States), which would have led to federal government oversight of our lake and nightmare for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, that didn't go far, after he left office. Let me also say, it is important to remember that 70" of rain in a year sounds like a reason to panic to us but relative to other areas of the country, it is a massive amount of rainfall for a 12 month period!
To conclude, here are a couple worst case scenarios to consider. Let's say we were in a massive water crisis and we faced water restrictions. Sure, the golf course might turn a little brown, but it's nothing that can't ultimately recover. Our Greens and tees would become priority #1 and we could resort to hand-watering these areas only to use the least amount of water possible and most efficiently. The most likely scenario we could face, is if our pumpstation, which supplies water to the golf course, were to suffer from a missile strike from a Russian drone. If that occurred, we have a plan in place for that as well. Hydroseeders and other water holding tanks that we have access to could be used to hold us over until the water started flowing again. Using these resources, we would go in crisis mode with the only objective, keeping putting greens alive until we got to a point where it started raining again or the irrigation was repaired.
Drought is something we must always take serious and have contingency plans in place for, but the reality that we'd ever need to resort to those plans in Highlands, is highly unlikely. Finally, autumn is the best time of year for drought because water requirements are so much less compared to other times of year. The sun angles are lower and the days are shorter. This means the grass isn't consuming water like it would in July and August and water also isn't evaporating from the soil as quickly as it was over the summer. Keeping up with wilted turf in areas is very easy this time of year. Historically, the month of September and early October are typically dry. Rest assured, it wont be long before we are back to saying, "Gosh, I wish it would stop raining!" Until then, enjoy the ball rolling out on your drives of the tee!
