SLO County community must reduce water use by 20% due to ‘insufficient’ supply
The Cambria Community Services District Board of Directors declared a stage 2 water shortage watch with the aim of reducing the small coastal community’s water use by 20%.
The 4-1 vote came during the board’s meeting on Thursday afternoon, with board member Harry Farmer dissenting. He said he didn’t believe a stage 2 declaration ws strict enough.
Cambria’s implementation of the stage 2 water shortage comes after prompting by the California Water Quality Control Board, which voted in May to require local agencies to implement level 2 of their water shortage contingency plans by June 10.
That vote was mostly in line with an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom in March, which stressed the importance of water conservation as the ongoing drought is causing supplies to dwindle.
Cambria has a water shortage contingency plan with six stages, from “water use efficiency is a way of life” as the first stage, to “exceptional water shortage emergency” as the sixth.
The second stage indicates that the small coastal community’s “water supply may be insufficient to satisfy the ordinary demands and requirements of water consumers,” according to the stage 2 water shortage resolution adopted by the board on Thursday.
As conditions stand, Cambria is in a water deficit, meaning its demand far outpaces its viable supply.
Cambria customer demand is currently about 542 acre-feet of water annually, or about 177 million gallons, according to the community services district.
Meanwhile, the district’s groundwater sources — San Simeon and Santa Rosa creeks — are projected to be able to supply only 473 acre-feet of water.
That leaves the community with an expected deficit of 69 acre-feet of water for the year, according to the community services district.
The stage 2 water shortage watch should fix that, according to Cambria Utilities Department manager Ray Dienzo.
“Twenty percent will give us a 108-acre-foot reduction for the entire year,” Dienzo said during Thursday’s meeting.
To achieve this, Cambria customers have a few new water restrictions they must follow.
These include using landscape irrigation with potable water for no more than three days per week and no more than 15 minutes per day per station and washing cars in a commercial carwash that recirculates water or by a high-pressure, low-volume system.
Refilling of irrigation water cisterns with potable water is prohibited, although using non-potable water for irrigation is permitted at all times.
Cambria Community Services District staff will also increase water waste patrols and provide high-efficiency plumbing and landscape irrigation rebates and giveaways during the stage 2 water shortage watch.
