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Dry California tourist town to guests: 'Please conserve'

California Dry Mendocino
Posted at 3:35 PM, Aug 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-10 18:35:09-04

MENDOCINO, Calif. (AP) — Tourists flock to the coastal town of Mendocino, California, for its Victorian homes and cliff trails. But visitors now are also finding portable bathrooms on the streets and dozens of signs on picket fences pleading with them to save water.

Residents and businesses are paying more for water because of a shortage brought on by California's severe drought.

Hotels in the historic town about 150 miles north of San Francisco have closed their lobby bathrooms, and residents have stopped watering their gardens.

The wells Mendocino depends on for potable water are running low or have dried up after two years of little rain in the state.