Cal Am’s Steve Leonard is one of those people who truly is only happy when it rains. “There are no sunny days for me,” says the water company vice president. “Give me fog—when the demand is down.”

This is not a good year for Leonard. It’s the eighth driest year on record since 1922, according Darby Fuerst, the water resources manager for the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.

As of May 1, the Carmel River watershed has received about half the rainfall it does in a normal year. Because of the lack of rain, water demand is up this year, and pumping from the Carmel River and the Seaside Basin—the Peninsula’s two sources of water—has increased by 460 acre-feet over last year.

Additionally, the area has only seen 17 percent of the water runoff that it should. The water runoff at the San Clemente Dam is vital to replenishing the Peninsula’s limited water supply.

Droughts come in two-year cycles, and Leonard worries about successive dry years. “One dry year we can manage,” he says. “We have to keep an eye on next year. After we get through using what’s in storage, where are we going to be?”

The good news is: We all can do more than feel bad about the lack of rainfall and runoff. In fact, we have to. It’s the law. Well, kind of.

The Monterey Peninsula has been officially in a Stage 1 shortage since March 1, 1999.

“Stage 1 discourages or prohibits all waste of water and non-essential uses of water,” Fuerst says. This means that certain water use requirements are now—and have been for the past eight years—in effect.

The rules aren’t difficult to follow so long as one knows what they are.

First, there’s the outdoor watering schedule for Cal-Am customers. Odd-numbered street addresses, as well as Carmel south and west addresses, may water before 9am or after 5pm on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Even-numbered and Carmel north and east addresses get Sundays and Thursdays.

Water officials also develop “landscape budgets” for large residential and non-residential users. Under Stage 1, there’s no penalty for exceeding the allotted water use. But under Stages 2 and 3, big water users face hefty fines.

 State 1 rules also affect businesses. Restaurants are supposed to serve water only on request. Similarly, signs must also be posted in local hotels indicating that the Peninsula has a water shortage, and asking guests to reuse towels, or opt not to have their sheets changed every day.

“We have to partner with our customers,” Leonard says. “Because if they don’t conserve, we will meet their demand, and we will overpump the Carmel River.”