Data Is Beautiful

The water use is crazy.

Even in desert states they still build and maintain golf courses.

For example:

The U.S. Geological Survey’s most recent water use data for Utah shows the state uses about 38 million gallons of water on golf courses per day — enough to fill almost 58 Olympic-size swimming pools. “Golfer expectations, I think, need to change,” says T.A. Barker, superintendent at the Fore Lakes Golf Course in Taylorsville, Utah, and director of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

[...]

Golf — especially in the West — is an activity most often pursued by relatively few. According to the most recent data from the National Golf Foundation, about 250,000 people played the sport in Utah in 2021. That number includes all kinds of golf, from driving ranges and Topgolf to more traditional, 18-hole courses. That’s a lot of people — but that’s only about 8% of Utah’s population. And that small percentage tends to skew to be upper class. With that in mind, the question then becomes, “How much water ought to be dedicated to a game that benefits relatively few?”

https://www.deseret.com/2022/3/22/22988989/an-illogical-oasis-golf-course-water-usage-st-george-golf

Meanwhile:

With reservoir supplies dwindling, unprecedented heat waves, and a drier than average winter, it’s no secret that Utah is feeling the effects of our current drought. A recent study that was heavily documented by local and national news outlets alike suggests that this dry spell is, in fact, the worst in at least 1,200 years. And in Utah — where our high desert climate isn’t conducive to bountiful water resources in the first place — our increasing population is poised to put even more of a strain on this finite resource.

[...]

“We’re already running out of water,” says Paul Brooks, director of the Hydrology and Water Resources Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Utah. “All you have to do is go back to last summer and see that a couple of small communities just east of Salt Lake City either ran out of water or had to curtail building permits because they couldn’t guarantee enough water to supply new homes.”

https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/were-already-running-out-of-water-the-reality-and-future-of-utahs-drought/

Sounds like we need to make a c/fuckgolf

You must live in Augusta too, huh?