Are restaurants conserving their fair share of water?

“Water is precious on California’s Central Coast. If you would like a glass of water, please ask.”

That is a sign all restaurants on the Monterey Peninsula should have on their tables. But not all servers are waiting for the request.

“Just last week I was served water at a restaurant without asking for it,” said Monterey Peninsula Water Management District General Manager Dave Stoldt.

Stoldt said that can end up being wasteful.

“It can accumulate into hundreds of acre feet, and an acre foot is enough water to serve four or five standard size homes,” said Stoldt.

Central Coast News went to eight sit-down restaurants on the Monterey Peninsula Wednesday afternoon. Of the eight, five did not serve us water until we asked. Two asked us if we wanted water before we asked, and only one served us water without being asked.

However, every restaurant had the mandatory conservation sign posted on their tables.

While the district wishes it could enforce conservation measures at all commercial businesses as well the enforcement personnel is too limited.

“We do need to steer them more into commercial inspections. But it’s been a problem for us,” said Stoldt.

Stoldt said it’s all about training servers.

“Its hard when you are an 18-year-old kid and you’re instructed to take care of the customer to not want to refill those glasses,” said Stoldt.

It comes down to the customer, too. If you don’t want water send it back.

“We are all in this together and we need everyone to do their part,” said Stoldt.