This country club uses 2 million gallons of water a week

This country club uses 2 million gallons of water a week

Golf course, celebrities are among the water wasters topping a Bay Area list.

The California drought has made water-use a front page story, with headlines highlighting the state’s best and worst water resource conservation stories. Now, in the latter category, a Bay Area golf club has been exposed as one of the state’s most profligate water users.

The Menlo Country Club, an exclusive golf course for the wealthy residents outside of the Northern California town of Woodside, was at the top of the list of the Bay Area’s excessive irrigation water users, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. An analysis by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) found that the facility uses more than 2 million gallons of water per week, or enough water to supply more than 7,800 local homes.

The club is using more than 66,000 gallons of water a day over its allotted usage under the state’s drought restrictions. The PUC list included only those entities that had been ordered in 2014 to shrink their water usage.

In addition to the golf course, other area businesses were also on the PUC list for going over their allotment. The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, a local Safeway grocery store, the nonprofit Mercy Housing agency, and local luxury apartment buildings also made the list.

A few individuals, including some local celebrities also made the list, including Robin Williams’ former wife and a former Chevron senior executive. The PUC list showed over 200 violators in September, who each were billed double for every gallon over their allotment.

Some of those on the list offered explanations for their water wasting. A UCSF spokesperson, for example, cited a large water leak as the explanation for the facility’s failure to meet its allotment. A spokesman for the University of San Francisco, which made the list with excessive water use of more than 1,000 gallons a day over three days in September, expressed surprise about being named, given the water-saving measures that the University says it has adopted.

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