Drought drags on and continues to impact on Central Coast

KING CITY, Calif. (KION-TV)— Drought conditions are not improving in the state. With no rain in sight, the situation will only get drier.

Last month, Cal Water moved into stage two of the water contingency plan. Stage 2 includes additional outdoor watering limits and increased water waste penalties.

With the drought dragging on, people in King City are doing what they can to cut back on their water use.

Outside of Johnny Gallagher’s home, his lawn and plants are mostly green. But some patches of brown spots still exist.

Gallagher said he works with his gardener to ensure they use just enough water.

“We've talked about it,” said Gallagher. “He makes sure all the sprinklers, and everything comes on at the right time, like in the middle evenings late.”

Other neighbors KION spoke with said they’ve considered replacing their lawns with rocks or cement or switching it out for artificial grass.

Even though the grass is not green on the other side, Cal Water is seeing customers cutting back.

“We've started to see in the last month or so some more conservation,” said Yvonne Kingman with Cal Water, “Which basically means there's less water being used now than there was during the same month of 2020.”

But while the water service is still in stage two of its contingency plan, KION asked what conditions need to be met to move into the next stage.

“A couple of things we look at is how our supplies are doing,” said Kingman. “If our supplies are starting to decrease or if conservations are going in the opposite direction, those are times we would look at implementing higher stages of our water contingency plan.”

As for Gallagher, he plans to remain conscious about the amount of water he's using.

Cal Water offers several different programs to help customers conserve water. One of those programs includes its Smart Landscape Tune-Up Program. The Smart Landscape Tune-Up Program is free for eligible customers and allows a Cal Water conservation rep to come over and make irrigation system recommendations.

Cal Water said it wants to take an educational approach and work with customers before issuing any financial penalties.