Drought Puts a Damper on California Tourism

Disneyland is anything but underwhelming. Its deluxe fountains constantly spout, water rides regularly douse patrons, and plush gardens all lead children, and sometimes adults, to both squeal with delight and break down in tears.

So you may suspect that a Southern California theme park that relies on evoking a fantastical world of grandeur would view the water restrictions in the wake of the state’s drought as onerous. That would be wrong.

The drought has already changed the habits of a tourism industry that includes the state’s signature theme parks, world-renowned golf courses, extensively manicured hotel and spa grounds and the abundance of natural wonders that make up a $57 billion tourism industry and employ nearly 5 percent of the state’s workers.

But new limitations calling for people, governments and businesses to reduce water use by as much as 36 percent compared with 2013 mean different things to different attractions. The large-scale destinations say that they’ll continue to cut use, so the restrictions will in some ways mean business as usual.

Others, especially those tied to the state’s natural wonders, are tightening spigots at the same time they are finding new ways to market peaks with little snow and streams that are slowly drying up.

Disneyland, which is in Anaheim, is celebrating 60 years in operation this summer and is showing no signs of slowing down. It is among the most visited theme parks in the world and it appears mostly unfettered by the drought.

Attractions at the park that rely upon water — Rivers of America, Adventureland, Splash Mountain, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Pirates of the Caribbean and It’s a Small World — are mostly made possible by recycled water systems, but they still need to be topped off because of evaporation.

Disneyland collaborates with the Orange County Water District, which recycles water into a purification system and then into the county’s groundwater aquifer. Essentially, then, the water Orange County residents use could be the same water they sailed across on the Mark Twain Riverboat when they last visited Disneyland.

Still, the Anaheim water authority must cut the city’s use by 20 percent, a tall order. During a recent visit to Disneyland, it was apparent that there are some quick fixes. Although the sensor-controlled faucets are low-flow, for example, water continues to run regardless of whether you have finished washing your hands.

Neither Disneyland nor Anaheim Public Utilities would say how much water the park does use and Disney will only say that it plans to comply with restrictions once they’re in place.

At Pebble Beach golf resort in Northern California, the 454 guest rooms are also equipped with low-flow showerheads and guests can choose to have linens changed less often. The links are watered with reclaimed wastewater, a $67 million project that the Pebble Beach Co. says has also reduced discharge into Carmel Bay. An irrigation system, too, is based on evapotranspiration rates, soil probing, visual inspection and the weather.

The drought, then, is most acutely felt perhaps by the communities that cater to tourists, like Catalina Island, which is off the coast of Southern California and is part of Los Angeles County.

The island’s cracked Stage Road, which snakes up into the dusty palisades and away from the idyllic and festive harbor offers heart-stopping views of the mainland and also the Pacific Ocean, which is one reason many have come to the island in the last century.

But continuing onward and inland, where bison roam the island’s rolling prairie, a detour to Thompson Reservoir reveals what few visitors see: depressing, declining waters, with a rickety dock mired in weeds and beached paddle boats.

While no water is actually pumped from here to serve the 4,000 island residents (most water comes from a desalinization plant and ground wells), it does function as an indicator, and stark image, of Catalina Island’s vanishing supply of groundwater.

Last August, eight months before California Gov. Jerry Brown announced water use cutbacks, Southern California Edison, which provides water, gas and electricity to Catalina Island, told residents to restrict their water use by 25 percent. The island economy is nearly entirely dependent upon tourism, making for a sobering dilemma: the source of Catalina’s livelihood is also threatening its survival.

Amid the deepening drought, four years on and seen by many estimates as California’s worst, island residents are facing a 50 percent reduction in water use by October, when state-wide water restrictions are expected to take effect.

At another popular tourist destination, away from the coast and into the Sierra Nevada, ski operators around Lake Tahoe are seeking to boost their warm weather attractions on the heels of a weak winter season. According to the California Ski Industry Association, California’s resorts, 27 in all, are behind only those in Colorado as a top destination for skiers and snowboarders.

Seven resorts in the Lake Tahoe area closed early this season because of limited snow. On the lake’s northern and eastern shores, which stretch into Nevada, the surrounding waterways, including the Truckee River, serve resorts around Incline Village and the Stateline casinos, and stem from a high desert climate in Nevada, where the landscape is less dependent on irrigation, said Christopher Baum, president and chief executive of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.

Source: Reuters