Porta potties and dirty buses: Hearst Castle cuts down water use in response to drought
Visitors to Hearst Castle can expect to see some changes as California combats its worst drought in years.
California State Parks is implementing stage 3 of its drought contingency plan in an effort to cut back on water use at the former San Simeon estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
It’s the highest stage in State Parks’ drought contingency plan for the Castle. The agency’s efforts mirror how the entire state of California has worked to reduce water consumption during the driest megadrought in the West in 1,200 years.
On Wednesday, State Parks closed the restrooms at Hearst Castle and William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach and replaced them with portable chemical toilets, popularly known as porta potties, according to a news release by the agency.
Additionally, State Parks has ceased irrigation at the castle’s Visitor Center and will no longer wash buses or other operations vehicles unless necessary for safety purposes, the release said.
The agency will continue irrigating the landscaping around the Hearst Castle hilltop to “keep the plants alive,” said Dan Falat, Falat, supervisor of State Parks’ San Luis Obispo Coast District, which includes the Castle.
“This is about reducing our use to the extent possible while also protecting the monument,” Falat noted, adding that State Parks has worked to install drip irrigation and other water-saving equipment at the Castle over the past four years.
Other water-saving techniques State Parks has implemented in recent months include prohibiting new plantings, adding mulch and repairing leaks around the castle.
According to Falat, State Parks has no plains to drain the Castle’s famed Neptune Pool, as it did in 2014 amid a major drought.
That year, officials discovered cracks in the outdoor pool causing leaks that resulted in the loss of up to 5,000 gallons of water each day, according to State Parks.
The Neptune Pool was restored and refilled in 2018.
Most of the water fountains on the Hearst Castle property are on internal systems, Falat said, so those will not be drained either.
He added that the indoor Roman Pool will also remain full of water.
Hearst Castle reopened to the public in May after being closed for more than two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and repairs to the access road that leads from the visitors center to the hilltop estate.
To book a tour, call 800-444-7275 or visit www.ReserveCalifornia.com.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Porta potties and dirty buses: Hearst Castle cuts down water use in response to drought."
