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Rancho Santa Fe Farms Golf Course Gets a Colorful Makeover

The 80-acre course, Farms Golf Course in Rancho Santa Fe, just got a colorful makeover. Well, their sprinklers did at least. On Thursday April 30, they put purple markers on nearly every valve throughout the course. The markers on the valves indicate recycled water.

Troy Mullane, the course director of maintenance, helped oversee the seven-year project to switch the water supply. The switch included new pumps, pipes and sprinklers; a switch that cost The Farms more than $200,000.

Mullane believes they invested a lot of money into it but that it would pay back by saving water for the state. The irrigation switch will eventually pay for itself because recycled water is less expensive than drinking water.

The Farms Golf Course uses an estimated 70 million gallons per year. According to the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, before the switch, 96 percent of the course was irrigated with potable water. The switch in the system means they will no longer need to pump water from the city’s water supply. It is expected to save millions of gallons of drinking water.

The Farms had this project in mind well before the recent California drought. The idea was first developed back in 2000 when the course underwent renovations.

“As California regulators consider mandating specific reductions in potable water use, the timing for this conversion could not have been better,” said Kimberly Thorner, OMWD general manager. “OMWD has been committed to reducing our reliance on imported water, and this is yet another step toward fulfilling that goal.”

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