Due to the drought, the Town of Ridgefield purchased 200,000 gallons of water for the golf course to irrigate the greens.  The $12,800 purchase was made at the end of August/beginning of September prior to the rains the area just received.  Revenues from the town-owned course are up, so First Selectman Rudy Marconi says the money is coming from the golf course account.  If they exceed spending estimates, the town would have to make a transfer somewhere.  There were 32 loads of water tanked in, at $400 a load. 

Marconi says two of the ponds were completely empty and they were running out of water.  They were not irrigating anything else on the golf course, just the greens so the fairways lost a lot of the grass.  Marconi notes that the recent rains filled the ponds. 

An application for dredging the ponds to remove the sediment that has built up over the years is in the pipeline.  Marconi says they hoped to do that while the ponds were empty, but the rain came.  It would be a different process now that there's water in the area.  Marconi is seeking permission to dredge the ponds from various commissions. 

They're also looking into reseeding the grass, with an anticipated cost of $50,000.