In response to almost certain water shortages as a result of climate change and increased consumption, golf course managers in the United States have started implementing water conservation practices, the Washington Post reported last week. And the moves are probably long overdue. Turns out golf courses use 0.5 percent of all water in the country. That might not sound like much at first glance, but it comes out to some 762 billion gallons per year.

Congressional Country Club, which lies just outside the nation’s capital in suburban Maryland and is regularly visited by Capitol Hill’s movers and shakers, itself uses 18 million gallons. One of the measures to curb water use, the Post reports, is to use reclaimed water, which is non-potable, sewage-treated water.

Golf Digest, the nation’s leading golf magazine, talked in its May issue about how green golf is (or isn’t). The article concluded that:

1. Water shortages will cause a crisis for U.S. golf courses
2. Pesticides currently applied are probably more dangerous than we think
3. Environmental opponents to golf aren’t going away any time soon