By Eric Heinz
On July 7, California Department of Parks and Recreation announced it would shut off all outdoor rinse stations at state beaches effective Wednesday, July 15.
“California is facing extremely severe drought conditions,” California State Parks Director Lisa Mangat said in a press release. “It is important for all Californians to conserve water at home, at work and even when recreating outdoors.”
The press release also stated the department estimates that shutting off outdoor rinse stations will conserve more than 1.2 gallons of water per shower or rinse, possibly saving a total of more than 18 million gallons of water annually.
City of San Clemente officials said they will not shut off the rinse stations at the beaches the city maintains. The decision to do so would have to come from the City Council.
Although the outdoor rinse stations are shut off, the indoor public showers and indoor faucets at state beaches will still be operational.
State Park officials said they did not know when they would begin operating the rinse stations again, but the July 7 press release suggested instead of using the stations people should use a towel or brush to wipe away sand, bring water from home in a re-useable jug or use a pressurized sprayer or one of the newer pressurized portable showers.
This “savings” of water seems kind of silly as those folks who cannot use the state parks water will merely go home and shower off. So the reality of how much water will saved by this move is zilch, zero, nada. Now if the issue is saving the state parks money by not paying for the water, that may be true. But then why do we pay state taxes for the state parks? Go figure.
Richard beat me to it, EXACTLY what I was going to say as no one is just going to not rinse off salt water as soon as they can…
So the solution to a 1.2 gallon beach shower is to bring a 1 gallon jug of water to rinse off with? Sounds very well thought out. (end sarcasm)