Why are there Golf Courses in the Desert?

With an annual average of just 9.5 inches of precipitation, Nevada wins the title of driest state in the United States. Nevadans thus heavily depend on Lake Mead and the Colorado River that feeds it to fulfill their water needs. These life and commerce-sustaining resources, however, are undergoing a historic, multi-decade drought. Lake Mead hit a record low in 2022 and continues to empty faster than the drought-starved river can replenish it. Prior to 2022, the previous record low was recorded in 1937 around when it was initially filled. Keeping policymakers up at night, the Colorado River serves roughly 40 million people across seven states and two countries, supporting food production, community health, and luxury recreation. Nevada, like so many of the Southwestern states, has adopted extremely progressive and inventive water conservation programs to recycle and reduce its water use with great success. Yet, as neighbors give up their grass lawns, water glasses at restaurants, and high-pressure showers, people can drive just one hour outside of Las Vegas to Mesquite and enjoy a round of golf at a man-made oasis in the desert. Is this a failure of public policy to curb excessive water use or are we looking at the harsh realities of supply and demand in a luxury industry? Given that grass used for golf courses has a recreational purpose, the new state legislation spares the fairways that it would otherwise target it for removal. Notably, golf courses still face tight water budgets which encourage them to remove some acres of grass, albeit at their own pace. Overall, Nevada has an opportunity to hasten the reduction of this non-public excessive use of water if it adopts a luxury tax for its consumers. However, the real opportunity is to adopt stricter “luxury grass” water-use policies across the Southwest before it is too late.

As the drought continues to impact the Colorado River Basin, the U.S. overall has made significant progress in water conservation and industry changes, but water has a complicated story to tell. Between 1980 and 2015, the U.S. population grew by 82 million people, a 34% increase. The U.S. also experienced an explosive 78% increase in electricity use and a 10% increase in cropland while also experiencing a 25% decrease in annual water withdrawals over that time. While this history may provide a perfect opportunity to wash away our moral concerns about water shortages, the past is not a good indicator of future water use and availability. Current research on freshwater use in the U.S. under climate change conditions places total water consumption between an 8% decrease and 235% increase over the next 50 years. This best-case and worst-case scenario is based on models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report. Although Nevada has a healthy appetite for gambling, the dangers of the Colorado River running dry from over-extraction might be too great.

According to the IPCC report, climate change will have varying impacts across the U.S., but using the report’s different climate models, a recent analysis found future freshwater consumption changes are heavily aligned with local industries. Combining both temperature changes and water-use practices, drier areas with high concentrations of agriculture, not population growth, should expect to see the greatest increases in water consumption over the next 50 years. Policymakers thus should balance the competing priorities of agriculture and other water-reliant industries to maintain a sustainable local economy.

Understanding how water consumption patterns change under different climate scenarios is critical for implementing region-specific policies in the short-term. Currently, each of the seven states along the Colorado River, tribal nations, and Mexico are connected through written water treaties and agreements, some over a century old. Each state and local municipality is entitled to set policies on how to allocate this precious resource. For the first time in history, the federal government has intervened in these inter-state agreements to impose additional cuts, but the states continue to miss deadlines to establish new allotments. Since many of these water-use agreements are based on who first used the Colorado River (i.e., tribal nations have some of the oldest water rights), the way in which water is allocated by state is not weighted towards its end purpose. First on the chopping block is Arizona, which has already lost 21% of its river access entering into 2023 and will likely lose more as cutbacks continue. Arizona has also struggled in recent years to negotiate with golf advocacy groups to reduce water while the crisis continues unabated. Given the risk of agriculture losses and worsening food inflation, it again seems that luxury water uses should be at the end of the priority list. Is the critique warranted? According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, golf courses take up approximately 5% of total water withdrawals from Lake Mead as compared to the 60% of outdoor residential use.

Golf courses are excluded from the 2021 Nevada law that bans all nonfunctional grass by 2027. That said, golf courses are still taking initiative to convert low-activity areas to desert landscapes. Since 1990, 30 courses have removed more than 900 acres of grass. While it may seem fair to leave golf courses alone to focus on water conservation policies that tackle the bulk of excess water withdrawals, this is potentially one area that warrants attention to better serve the public interest as well as set a precedent for other states to follow.

Now is the time to rethink water allocations so that distributions maximize community well-being. Water is so heavily connected to economic gains that many regulations could suppress local businesses. But luxury goods and luxury sports benefit from inelastic demand from enthusiasts for whom price is no object. As a result, a higher water utility bill for golf courses is not likely curb golf course activity on its own. A more productive solution would be to target the demand for the luxury sport in combination with tighter restrictions for non-essential grasses. Simply raising water utility rates without targeting specific excessive uses would be a regressive tax on residents in the community and place a disproportionate burden on low-income households without encouraging water-intensive luxury businesses to conserve more water.

Clean water is essential to live a healthy life, and residents can only cut their use by so much before they sacrifice their well-being. As a solution, a water tax structure should target non-essential uses in the form of an additional luxury (sin) tax on all sales made at golf courses and other water-intensive luxury activities. In addition, this solution should be accompanied by added premiums to water utility bills for usage above a certain threshold before the golf courses hit their water budget. These charges should be visible line items on all receipts to the end consumer. Finally, policies need to classify golf course grass as non-functional turf and target it for replacement by 2027 like other residential grasses. Nevada’s water conservation and reuse policies already make it a model for the rest of the Southwest, but the water crisis presses on, and water resources continue to shrink. Despite a “drought-busting” winter on the west coast, scientists continue to warn that water conservation efforts cannot afford to lose momentum. There is simply no more time for incremental changes while new cuts are fought over in heated legal proceedings. As the U.S. shifts its attention to supporting and developing sustainable agriculture amidst the effects of climate change, water-scarce states should look to the successes Nevada has already achieved. Nevada can also continue to achieve more water progress with little social cost by enacting water luxury taxes. States must look for proactive ways to encourage water-smart industries and discourage those that can turn a profit with little regard to the needs of the broader public.