Borrego Sun - Since 1949

California’s Drought has now pushed a city to force restaurants to use disposable flatware. The City of Fort Bragg, in Northern California, ordered its residents to cut back on water usage by 30 percent. With this measure, restaurants and hotels would use disposable flatware and serve water upon request. Residents are also prohibited from irrigating lawns and washing cars. This extreme measure was ordered after the Noyo River that provided 30 percent of water to the city hit a record-low flow and the water became too salty to drink. The flows are not strong enough to push back the salty ocean water at high tide. On Wednesday of last week, the river flows were at 0.4 cubic feet per second; half the amount of the previous Drought record in 1977.

This pushed the city to declare a stage-three water emergency (mandatory). Restaurant owners showed discomfort about the measure, saying that there are other ways to conserve water besides using disposable flatware. Jim Hurst, co-owner of a city’s restaurant said, "You might be able to cut a filet mignon with a plastic knife, but you are not going to cut a New York.”

Residents breaking the measure could be fined $500 for the first offense, and have their water cut off if they continue to avoid the regulations.