Golf Courses in the desert hills outside of Las Vegas.

There is an obvious disconnection between the golf courses in the desert hills of Las Vegas and the surrounding environment. In the area of Las Vegas, only 10% of its water comes from local groundwater. The other 90% comes from the Colorado River and Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States.

Much of that water is used to fill up private mega-pools and irrigate decorative grass in gardens, roundabouts or business centers. Golf courses are also very popular in and around the desert of Las Vegas, and it takes consumptive use of water to keep the pitches green. People wet the grass a few times throughout the day, every day of the week.

For years, the region faces water shortages that result in severe droughts. As a result, the use of water gets more restricted by local authorities. Looking at it from a different perspective, it’s a man-made, first-world problem with the water shortage and supply in the driest state of the United States.