irrigate the golf course in order to keep it nice and green! The amount of water that most
recreational activities use is low: less than one percent of all the water we use.
Most recreational water uses are non-consumptive. That would include swimming, fishing,
and boating. We can swim, fish, and boat without reducing the water supply. The same
is not true for playing golf, which is the biggest recreational water consumer. Golf courses
require large amounts of water. Water used for golf courses is generally consumptive, since
most of it is lost to evaporation, soil, and runoff.
Environmental Use
Figure 21.8: Environmental Water Use: Wetlands and other environments depend on clean
water to survive. Water shortages are a leading cause of global biodiversity loss. ( 14 )
Environmental uses include activities to create habitat for wildlife, such as building lakes and
fishladderstohelpfishspawn(Figure21.9). Mostenvironmentalusesarenon-consumptive;
they account for even less water use than recreation.
California Water Resources
California has a rich water supply from many sources. The winter snow pack in the Sierra
Nevada and other mountain ranges feeds rivers that crisscross the state. Many of these
streams feed into the Sacramento River in the northern part of the Central Valley, and the
San Joaquin River in the southern portion (Figure21.9). Virtually all of these rivers are
dammed, some more than once, to supply power and water to the cities and farmland of the
state.