At a meeting last week, the board voted 4-1, with only Harry Farmer voting against, according to a report by the San Luis Obispo Tribune. He said that a stage 2 declaration wasn't strict enough. The California Water Quality Control Board pushed Cambria to move to stage 2 of its water shortage plan.
The board voted in May to require local agencies to move to level 2 of their water shortage plans by June 10. This vote was mostly in line with an order from Governor Gavin Newsom in March. In that order, he stressed how important it was to save water because of the ongoing drought, which is causing supplies to get lower.
Cambria has a six-stage plan for what to do if there is a water shortage. The first stage is "water use efficiency is a way of life," and the sixth stage is "exceptional water shortage emergency."
The board passed a resolution about the second stage of a water shortage on Thursday, the Tribune reported. It says that the small coastal community's "water supply may not be enough to meet the normal needs and demands of water users."
Cambria has a water deficit, which means that it needs a lot more water than it can supply. The community services district says that Cambria customers use about 542 acre-feet of water per year, which is about 177 million gallons.
The San Simeon and Santa Rosa creeks, which are the district's groundwater sources, are only expected to be able to provide 473 acre-feet of water. The community services district says that this means the community will need an extra 69 acre-feet of water this year.
Ray Dienzo, manager of the Cambria Utilities Department, says that the stage 2 water shortage watch should take care of that.
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