Long Island Town Using Conservation Measures To Irrigate Golf Course

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island town is using conservation measures to cut down the huge amount of water used to irrigate its golf course due to drought conditions.

CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported the reservoir used to irrigate the town-owned Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington is 15 feet below its normal levels.

It can takes hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to irrigate the typical golf course, so town officials have ordered several conservation measures. They include: not watering the rough, hand-watering the dry spots, using additives to retain turf moisture, and using hand-held moisture meters.

Workers walk the course every day taking measurements.

"The guys can really just decipher where they need to water or when rather than turning the sprinklers on full," said golf course general manager Bob Lippiello.

Workers are no longer irrigating the driving ranges, and they are letting the grass grow longer away from the greens to retain even more moisture. The town also plans to build another reservoir to capture rainwater.

"We'll line a secondary reservoir which will allow us to hold twice as much water that we can irrigate with," Lippiello said.

The golf course is also recycling the water used to wash its equipment. Maxine Aigen and her family, frequent visitors to the golf course, appreciate the water-saving measures, an approach they have taken in their own home.

"We took away a lot of grass and put in rocks, so we wouldn't be watering our lawns as much," Aigen said.

Homeowner Dave Melling said he planted bushes that need less water and he doesn't worry about watering brown spots on his lawn.

"We only water when we have to, never more than every other day," Melling said. "We water two hours at a time and that's it."

Lippiello said they hope to cut down their water usage by 15 percent from all these measures.