‘Rights’ at Both Ends of Water Argument

It was one of maybe 15 telephone calls I fielded before 10 a.m. on a recent day, but Suzi Poss’s frustration hit home.

Poss, 30, a graphics designer and mother from Laguna Beach, was mad, and after listening to her pleas, it seemed to me that she had a point.

Aren’t we still in the middle of the worst drought in decades, Poss was asking. Aren’t we supposed to be showering less, flushing less and turning off the water while we brush our teeth?

If that’s still true, then what’s happening on the Newport Coast, she wanted to know. She saw what she considered a gross injustice: The ongoing installation of two “pro-class” golf courses on the new resort area between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar. She’s been driving by the project for weeks and watching the sprinklers pump thousands of gallons of water to turn what used to be semi-desert into lush fairways.

“Here I am shivering in my shower every morning, trying to save a gallon or two of water and then driving by the new golf courses with sprinklers pumping away,” Poss said. “I’m thinking: ‘What’s going on here?’ So I decided to find out about it, instead of being the typical disgruntled resident.”

She had me tuned in on three different levels. First, I enjoy a very occasional round of golf; second, I have watched the small patch of grass that serves as my “back yard” turn brown because I feel too guilty to water it, and, third, here is a caller extraordinaire. She is offering some answers as well as questions.

Poss began venting her frustrations on the telephone and wound up at the Irvine Ranch Water District, the major water supplier for the new resort area. That’s when she really got mad.

“I had assumed, maybe hoped, that the water they were using was reclaimed water,” she said. “But they told me this was potable water, the pure, drinkable stuff. I couldn’t believe it.”

Poss dug further. She called the Newport Beach Country Club to find out how much water it takes to run a golf course every day. She was told about 370,000 gallons a day, but that was only after the course had been established.

“The man told me when you are building the course, putting in the lakes and turf and things, it would be much, much more,” Poss said. “It just made me think that here we are doing all the little things we can to save water, and why? We’ve been happy to do them to help, but when you see this you think it’s all a waste of time.”

It was my turn to do some research. I called Peer Swan, the president of the board of directors of the IRWD and a man whom I’ve always respected because he talks straight up, to the point.

“Yes, it takes an awful lot of water, especially when you first start off,” Swan said. “It’s like putting in a back yard. You have to use a lot of water to get plants going, and this is a big back yard.”

Swan had me call district engineer Steve Malloy, who pointed out that the resort had been temporarily scaled back to only one golf course and that the company was using turf instead of seed to save water.

Then I asked Swan what I thought was the bottom line: Why aren’t you using reclaimed water? Why the good stuff?

Swan said they were actually using reclaimed water, starting in mid-June. Before that they had indeed been using potable water.

But the Irvine Co. had spent $840,000 on a temporary reclaimed water line to serve the course until a permanent line is finished next summer. “And they have been very cooperative in doing it. I think they are being a good neighbor and doing their job.”

But couldn’t the golf course have waited until the reclaimed water line was in, I asked? Isn’t this a waste of precious water anyway? No, Swan said, prudent planning means the golf course must go in first, and the Irvine Co. had planned for it by purchasing water last year and filling the district reservoirs, before the drought hit its peak.

At least the Irvine Co. has made the effort to use reclaimed water, Swan said.

“I haven’t heard the people with golf courses at Big Canyon Country Club and Santa Ana Country Club ask for a reclaimed water line,” Swan said. “All they say is we want water, we’ll take it and we’ll pay for it.”

Then Swan took the offensive. He reminded me that the IRWD has won awards for its water conservation efforts. “I’m not aware of any water in Laguna Beach that is reclaimed water. Maybe the people in Laguna Beach ought to spend time finding out why they aren’t doing the progressive things that other people are doing in the county,” he said.

Swan then added his own bottom line: that business and development mean jobs.

“This is a business thing that provides employment for our local people, without which they couldn’t live here. It provides property tax revenues to pay for these things,” he said. “I think it’s very important to protect industry . . . to protect the business community, and property values, and the employment base as best we can.”

“And we really don’t understand why others aren’t doing the same,” Swan added.

I called Poss back and explained to her Swan’s points. She was not convinced.

“My main thing is, do we really need another golf course, a ‘pro-class’ golf course?” she asked. “Is this really necessary for the survival of the state in these times?”

I sat at my desk thinking about both of their positions. Both were coming from two very divergent places and both were “right” about some things.

Then the phone rang again.