PB adopts mandatory water rules

By April Charlton/acharlton@timespressrecorder.com Email a friend Printer friendly

Diners in Pismo Beach restaurants, such as Rosas, must now request a glass of water due to drought conditions. Rosas has been serving Pismo Beach for 25 years. //Elisa Ramirez/Staff

Diners in Pismo Beach will have to request a glass of water from their server the next time they go out to eat in the city.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously adopted moderately restricted water supply conditions for Pismo in light of the states current drought.

Although the city has an ample supply of water to meet current demand, council members believed it would be prudent to implement restrictions to help combat dry conditions statewide.

If this (drought) continues, it could be really severe in the future, Councilman Ed Waage said. Pray for rain.

When Gov. Jerry Brown declared the drought emergency in mid-January, he asked citizens across the parched state to voluntarily reduce water usage by at least 20 percent and for municipalities to implement local water shortage contingency plans.

We do need to be mindful of the overall situation and conserve for the future, City Engineer Ben Fine told the council.

Under the citys municipal code, the council can declare one of four water supply conditions, including the recently adopted declaration, which falls one step below normal. Severely restricted and critical are the remaining two conditions that can be adopted under the code.

Each condition has various water-use restrictions associated with it, and under a moderately restricted supply, restaurants can only serve drinking water if a customer requests a glass.

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PB adopts mandatory water rules