Is there a tomorrow?

In the middle of the Southern California desert, resort guests can travel by gondola to waterfront bistros, homeowners can water-ski on a manmade lake, and golfers can tee off at more than 100 courses made lush and green from constant watering. How much longer can this go on?

In the middle of the Southern California desert, resort guests can travel by gondola to waterfront bistros, homeowners can water-ski on a manmade lake, and golfers can tee off at more than 100 courses made lush and green from constant watering.

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How much longer can this go on?

That is what some are wondering since the federal government in April cut the amount of water California can draw from the Colorado River - a rollback that has thrown into question the long-term future of the Coachella Valley, a resort and retirement mecca 110 miles (177 kilometres) east of Los Angeles.

"We've gone from being assured that we lived in this magical place where the rules of water didn't apply to now having, I think, a very appropriate wake-up call about the fact that we do live in the California desert," said Buford Crites, a 17-year member of the Palm Desert City Council. "People have lived in this false water utopia."

For years, California has been using more than its fair share of water from the Colorado River, which flows to seven Western states. But drought and booming growth around the West finally prompted the government to crack down and demand that the state's water agencies work out a deal to redistribute the water.

When a deal fell through December 31, the government cut back the state's share of river water by 15 per cent.

The bulk of that cut landed on the Coachella Valley. The valley's water agency halted deliveries of Colorado River water to about a dozen golf courses, at least one construction company and the lake built for water skiing amid a housing development. Also, a landscaping ordinance that had been in the works before the cutbacks and went into effect on June 1 requires new developments to use 25 less percent water than existing ones. Water rates also may go up.

"It's an attempt to recognize we do live in a desert and water is not something we can take for granted," said Steve Robbins, general manager of the water agency.

Dave Twedt, the land development manager for the new Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta, is looking for water to ensure his greens are not brown when Tiger Woods and other top golfers arrive this fall for the popular Skins Game. The club is one of several spending more than $200,000 each to drill into the aquifer far beneath the course. "You don't have a whole lot of choices," Twedt said. "It's not like we'll be put out of business because, thank goodness, we can drill an irrigation well."