Ready for a sandy summer?
California state beach showers will be shut off to save water, beginning July 15th. State park officials announced the new policy as an effort to deal with the severe drought. The ban only applies to outdoor showers, not the indoor ones at state campsites.
City of San Diego outdoor beach showers – some call them ‘rinse stations’ – will continue – beaches like Ocean Beach. OB has such stations near the main lifeguard station and over at the new public restrooms on the beach near Dog Beach.
It’s estimated that each shower at the beach to rinse off uses 1.2 gallons of water. State officials hope to save up to 18 million gallons annually with the shut-offs.
Most of the beaches affected by the water-tightening rules are in Southern California.
In San Diego County, beaches affected by the change are:
- Carlsbad State Beach
- Cardiff State Beach,
- San Elijo State Beach,
- San Onofre State Beach,
- Silver Strand State Beach, S
- outh Carlsbad State Beach, and
- Torrey Pines State Beach.
- (Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas, though owned by the state, is operated by the city and not affected by the new restriction.)
The drought is so severe that it is beginning to affect the quality of the beach going experience, but right now it only applies to the state sand. It may be just a short time, however, before the City of San Diego realizes how much drinking water is literally flowing into the sand.
Garratt Aitchison, acting director of the department’s San Diego Coast District, said:
“I think every Californian understands the effect of the drought. …Our first course of action was to take a look at our outdoor showers, because it’s not so much a health and safety cutback — it’s one of convenience.”
Beachgoers are urged to take other measures, like using a towel to brush off sand, or bring water from home in jugs – which many surfers already do.
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For more information on this topic, check this article and MoveOn petition
Leaving the showers on would save water in my case, and I believe it would for many people. After a two minute rinse at the beach, i can wait until the next morning to take my normal ten minute shower. If I cannot rinse at the beach, I would take an extra shower at home and certainly use more than 1.2 gallons.