Cambria California Cuts Water Use 40%, And It's Not Nearly Enough; Town's Signature Trees Dying
CAMBRIA, Calif. — They’re the trees that gave this quaint Central Coast village its nickname: Cambria Pines by the Sea. But the towering Monterey pines — one of only three such native forests in the United States — are being ravaged by the drought. Most are brown and brittle. Weakened by lack of water, some have toppled. Others were cut down to prevent them from falling on cars and houses.
“The town lost 25 percent of its trees last year, and half of those that are standing are brown and dead,” said Rick Hawley, a founder of the preservation group Greenspace who waters some of the younger, more vulnerable trees.
The trees are a symbol of the drought’s effect on the relatively isolated Central Coast, which — despite its proximity to the world’s largest body of water — is particularly vulnerable to shortages because it relies on an unstable networks of creeks, lakes and State Water Project allocations.
As the three-year drought drags on, cities and towns on the Central Coast are looking for alternatives: Santa Barbara may dust off its dormant desalination plant, and San Luis Obispo County wants to connect two pipelines to deliver emergency water to Morro Bay and state and county agencies along Highway 1.
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http://readingeagle.com/ap/article/drought-stricken-town-cuts-water-use-40-but-thats-not-enough
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