A water shortage at Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon National Park in California is forcing the closure of the Moraine Campground.

The Cedar Grove water system gets its water from Sheep Creek, which no longer has the capacity needed to continue all services, a park release said. As a result, the park has reduced or eliminated the following services until water storage tanks are replenished and source capacity is sufficient:

• Moraine Campground is closed
• Visitor showers and laundry facilities located in the Cedar Grove Village are closed

A phased closure of Moraine Campground began Tuesday. There were about 40 sites occupied. Campground rangers made contact with visitors in those sites, telling them they had until noon Wednesday to leave the park or relocate to a different campground. Sheep Creek is the remaining campground in Cedar Grove, but is expected to fill quickly before the weekend.

Visitors and employees were encouraged to help by minimizing water usage and notifying park employees of dripping or leaking faucets. With Grant Grove public showers also closed this year, the only public showers available in the parks are in Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park.

The park is aggressively analyzing water usage to determine if there are any unknown leaks at this time.