I'm with you there, although I don't have a problem with elementary school kids having grass to run around on, as they actually have recess every day. Middle and High schools have no real need for it, especially these days. Sports fields can be artificial.
Why do golf courses exist around here? Get rid of golf courses and municipal and state water usage for landscaping (hell, throw in all other commercial landscaping usage), and this problem is licked overnight. Tell the rice farmers downstream to pound sand and find a place to grow rice that is actually suited for it or otherwise find a reasonable crop that can be responsibly grown in that region, and Central Texas will be as wet as it needs to be. Residential restrictions (or the money grab (under the guise of social engineering) by way of insane rate-raping that Austin Water does, won't put a dent in the problem. Xeriscaping is great, but residential applications don't mean much. Other towns with an abundance of residential xeriscaping still deal with water issues. Albuquerque is an example where you would have to hunt for hours to find a lawn larger than a postage stamp. They still struggle for water. Agriculture, commercial, and government usage are the only places the problem can be addressed meaningfully. But just as we don't address commercial power usage when the grid is struggling, we won't do anything to these groups about water either. No doubt there are some residential water hogs out there, but they don't put a dent in the water supply even as a collective, and neighbors yelling at them so they can achieve that sweet sanctimonious high isn't accomplishing a damn thing other than making sure they're not invited to the next block party. We've got a very small patch of grass in our front yard, with the rest being xeriscaped or landscaped with native plants, and I still had some self-righteous asshole yell at me about hand watering the grass one evening. Fuck that lady. As we do with most issues, we're turning this one into religious bullshit.
PS Aside - If we get rid of golf courses let's get rid of bike lanes as well. That has nothing to do with water, but bicycle lanes are the golf course of the roadway if you think about who is utilizing them.