Royal Canberra could lose Lake Burley Griffin access

Royal Canberra general manager Matthew Olson said they'd been liaising closely with the ACT government since they were put on low-level water restrictions midway through December.

Those restrictions were ramped up further on Tuesday with the water level of Lake Burley Griffin falling to 510 millimetres below normal.

They're now under medium-level restrictions and have been set a volumetric limit for the next month.

If the lake drops to 600mm then government regulations state all irrigation using lake water must cease, but the ACT government said there was some wriggle room.

Royal Canberra has access to lake water because they were forced to relocate in 1962 when the lake was built and their original Acton site flooded.

They moved to their current spot in the Westbourne Woods Arboretum.

Part of their agreement was to look after the arboretum.

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

"Water's at the forefront of everyone's mind at the moment. We've all got everything crossed hoping for rain," Olson said.

"We have had discussions with the [Environment Protection Authority] about water usage.

"They've contacted all of their licensees, to my understanding, and given everyone targets to work towards.

"There's clauses in the lease that specify if restrictions come in place from the governing body then we have to adhere to those restrictions, which is exactly what's happening right now.

"If the restrictions eventually - fingers crossed this doesn't ever happen - if the restriction gets to a place where we're not allowed to draw [lake water] then we would have to go to potable town water.

"We're in constant contact with [the government] on this issue.

"We know how big a deal it is at the moment. It's just a constant engagement."

The Canberra Times revealed some of the ACT's golf courses were facing water bills in excess of $300,000 for the summer due to the drought.

Royal Canberra now finds itself in the same boat.

Olson said maintaining the arboretum, which houses more than 4000 trees, puts an extra strain on their golf course.

Those thousands of trees suck water out of their fairways and make them harder to maintain during Canberra's record-breaking summer.

"We're OK. The hard part for us is the arboretum. The arboretum draws so much water out of our turf," Olson said.

"It is absolutely challenging, but we're not the only ones. Everyone's got a responsibility to do their part and we're just doing our part.

"We still do everything we can to keep those trees healthy and to keep the arboretum true to the original plans for it.

"We haven't been put under severe restrictions yet. Our playing lines are OK.

"Certainly if you go off our playing lines we're not irrigating it and it's dirt."