After little rain, California tourist town runs low on water

MENDOCINO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California coastal town popular with tourists is running low on water after two years of little rainfall during a drought in the U.S. West, forcing residents and business owners to truck in water from elsewhere.

Mendocino, known for its beaches, cliffside trails and redwood forests, relies on mostly shallow, rain-dependent aquifers, and many of the wells are running low or have dried up, the Press Democrat reported Thursday.

The 170-year-old hamlet has roughly 1,000 full-time residents but about 2,000 daily visitors, said Ryan Rhoades, superintendent of the Mendocino Community Services District.

All of their water needs are supplied by a network of 420 wells at various depths. Many of them were hand-dug in the early years of the historic town and are only 35 feet (11 meters) deep or shallower, Rhoades said.

By late spring last year, well shortages were being reported, even though locals are so focused on water efficiency that they easily meet 40% conservation mandates, he said.

A historic drought tied to climate change is gripping California and other Western states. It comes just a few years after California declared its last dry spell over in 2016. The earlier drought depleted groundwater supplies and changed how people use water, with many people and businesses ripping out landscaping and replacing it with more drought-tolerant plants.

Recently, Mendocino businesses like hotels have had trouble meeting their water needs, and water trucks making deliveries are now becoming almost as common as tourists.

Some hotels are charging extra for daily linen replacement and hot tub use, and other businesses are considering portable toilets to conserve water.

Most water had been purchased from Fort Bragg, a town of about 7,300 people whose...