Ryan - thanks for the heads up on this week's Time
regarding water usage, all users of it may wind up cutting back, facing higher prices - that would decrease some use wouldn't it!? - etc., if current trends continue...and even if problems in drought areas lessen, remember that the population contiunues to increase which obviously increases demand....it seems like we usually deal with environmental issues only when we reach a crisis point, which is unfortunate...and unfortuantely as well we are at that point regarding water supplies in many places
I think we need to look at these issues holistically....while many golf courses need to learn to use less water - and many golfers have to learn to deal with - gasp! - nonperfectly green turf and more nonmaintained areas and the like, other users must do their parts as well...this is what the watershed approach to environmental to management is all about: all the stakeholders in an area need to work together on environmental issues
and remember: 1. it is always cheaper and better to precent pollution vs. cleaning it up later on; and 2. a lot of pollution remains in the waters of the U.S.