Starting next week, California parks will no longer offer showers for people to wash sand and salt from their bodies at the beach, part of a broader plan to conserve water as the state's years-long drought drags on. The most populous US state is in the fourth year of a catastrophic drought that has cost billions to its agricultural sector and prompted its first-ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use.
Visitors to the state's beaches use about 1.2 gallons of water per day at outdoor rinse stations, for a total of about 18 million gallons of water annually. Shutting down the rinsing stations marks the state's latest move in efforts to reduce water consumption. To remove salt and sand, the state is suggesting that beachgoers bring a towel or brush to wipe themselves down. The state also suggests bringing water from home.
California Governor Jerry Brown, who declared the drought an emergency in 2014, ordered residents and businesses in April to cut water use by 25 per cent.
The drought is lingering despite winter storms because warm temperatures have meant that little of that rain is stored as snow. The state relies on its mountain snowpack to melt in spring and replenish streams and reservoirs.
