The people I have worked with are not sitting back, they are very sensitive to water usage. What some may preceive as over watering by an inexperienced super. could in fact be over watering because of a poorly designed irrigation system. Our irrigation designer, Joe Sarkisian, out of Massachusetts, reduces water use by 30% by the way we have worked together to marry the irrigation design to my golf course design. The grassing plan also has a big impact and may add a few more percentage points. Some may be gnashing their teeth that nothing is being done, but they must just be looking in the wrong places.
Furthermore, weather patterns seem to be different. After these next two hurricanes move toward the northeast, the drought may not be as bad. We may just be receiving our rainwater at different times while we seem to be stuck in a different weather pattern.
A lot of good people are ahead of the issue. It costs more money up front to save water down the road, so the accountants and management companies are not for the new technology and new designs because it costs more up front. Squeezing the dollar can have ill effects on creativity and long term maintenance. But, overall I see very positive trends, very creative ideas.