In Los Angeles, (Water) Consumption Is Lowest in 32 Years

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125106947738952331.html

* AUGUST 24, 2009

Water Cops Crack Down in Drought Areas
Sprinklers Monitored and Trickles Investigated, With Some Effect: In Los Angeles, Consumption Is Lowest in 32 Years

By SABRINA SHANKMAN

Los Angeles, suffering from its third year of drought, has tried just about everything to get people to turn off the tap. It forbade restaurants from automatically offering water to patrons. It jacked up water rates. This summer it established Mondays and Thursdays as only two days when residents are allowed to use sprinklers. Then, it rolled out the water cops.


David Jones of Los Angeles's Water Conservation Team issues a warning citation Friday because the homeowner allegedly was watering his flowers on the wrong day of the week and at the wrong hours of the day. The city also has an anonymous hotline and email address to report water wasters, a practice some residents embrace and others disdain. On a recent Tuesday, Ben Pantoja, a mild-mannered 50-year-old, drove his city-issued Prius down a street in the Filipino Town neighborhood. He noticed a trickle of water on a side street and quickly pulled a U-turn.

An office maintenance worker had just finished washing down a parking garage. Not allowed, said Mr. Pantoja, handing a citation to the building's manager. Mr. Pantoja is one of the city's 15 wandering water cops, officially known as the Water Conservation Team. They collect tips through an anonymous hotline, patrol neighborhoods and try to catch people in the act of violating any of the city's numerous water-saving edicts. That could mean anything from washing down asphalt to failing to repair a broken sprinkler head. First offenders are given a warning. Repeat offenders face a $100 fine.

The effect of all these efforts is beginning to trickle down. In June, the most recent figures available, city water use dropped by 12.7% compared with the same month in 2008, the lowest overall level of consumption in 32 years. Other drought-stricken areas have also rolled out get-tough measures. In San Antonio, city water officials credit strict water restrictions -- and the more than 1,800 water waste citations issued since April -- for increasing aquifer levels, despite record temperatures and a two-year drought. San Antonio Water System spokesman Greg Flores said the "Water Wasters" hotline receives more than 200 calls a day about residents defying Stage 2 restrictions, which include no watering on the weekends.

Those complaints result in a warning letter. But a band of off-duty police officers and water officials patrol problem areas looking to catch people in the act and issue tickets. Fines range from $50 to more than $1,000. Los Angeles is still suffering from drought even after three years and having tried everything to reduce water use. LA is now cracking down by sending out the water cops. WSJ's Sabrina Shankman reports. Los Angeles's goal is to reduce water use by 15%, and it must meet a state-mandated water reduction target of 20% by 2020. "The last major drought was about two decades ago," said David Nahai, the head of the city's Department of Water and Power. "People may have forgotten that we live in a semi-arid area." He said the numerous different limits he has put in place serve mostly to remind residents about the scarcity of water in Southern California.


snip

Or is that considered a waste of water?

Serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

:evilgrin:

They should just leave the union. Any *smart* people that live there should just 'get up & leave and move somewhere's else'.

Oh WAIT.....there's "something that Texas & Florida and two other states have in common now, isn't there? What was it again? Something like a homeowners tax exemption from something? Or something like that?

;-)

of course those "conservative republican governors" have no probably asking the other states to "help out".. and we always do:)

Texas is one of the few states fiscally solvent this year. Also we contribute more in taxes to the feds then we get back.

serves a very useful purpose, red cities and states are a waste. :silly:

Really thanks for that post. I guess we aren't American enough for yah or something.

You turd! :nuke:

The beaches suck and it's unsustainable in the long run.


You turd!

shithead

Shitbird!

Once we push the northern Floridians back into Alabama and Georgia, sustainability will increase to 150% of need for the next century.


Shitbird!

fartblossom

:crazy:

Can I move in with you?

:rofl:

Are they also a waste and serve no useful purpose? Or is it only the city of LA? :shrug:

What about San Diego? Are they also a waste? Should the people just pack up and head out of town?

A lot of people live in Southern California and I'm just trying to understand your strange logic here.

Help me out.

Apparently my city is a waste. When should I pack my bags? Can I move in with you in Florida?

Help a brotha out?

:rofl:

For better and for worser.

now to those of you about to blast LA realize this is also happening in the Central Valley

Guess what? A lot of your vegies and fruit come from there. Trees are dying...

and doing their best to cope. My guess is that a lot of arid land that only "bloomed" due to cheap water, will soon revert back to what it was before..

People bring a tax base, and unfortunately, people do need water..

The crime of the southland is Palm Springs..with all those golf courses, chugging all that water

you should have heard the hew and cry at the local HOA when they were told they had to let a good section go brown.

But, this is a... luxury

Oh shat up! That was me.

Coddled idiots. I told one, rather have fruits and vegies than a green lawn. I can eat the former, but not the latter.

but it's really just dead weeds:)

:-)

I posted a link to xeric sources in the garden forum a few months back.

It's the best of both worlds: environmentally responsible AND nice-looking.

I am a bad plant-mom.. I once had a fern die..IN THE SHOWER.. I had it in the skylight and would forget to water it :)

it is like pulling teeth. The only reason they started the recycling program three months ahead of the city was... the city was doing to mandate it anyway.

I say fun, because you can almost see the steam rising from the HOA-fanatic member (OK so they do a lot of good work , but....) when he comes to tell you to take down your clothesline, and you show him the Florida law which says that HOA's have no jurisdiction over ANY energy saving system. That's right, you can put solar panels on the front of the house if that's the best position, you can have a clothesline in the front yard if that's the best position.

Mind you , I only want to see this in gated communities. Out here in the real world, clotheslines in the front yard looks trashy.

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:rofl:

Only yours is not nearly as useful.

PLONK.

Then they'd have to dig up my yard to catch me watering :D

:rofl:

According to the Southwest Florida Water Management District I can't use my OWN WELL to irrigate. Why? Because they can't tell from a passing car whether it's my well or city water.

I'd love for that one to go to court. The state does not own my well or the water in it, so I can't imagine a legal basis for their to regulate it. But who has the money to play games with the state?

We Texans are in no position to speak ill of California's ongoing drought, as central and south Texas are also suffering from an extreme drought of nearly several years' duration.

I hope that much-needed rain comes soon to all the drought-stricken areas.

is no small feat :) (pats self on back)

We all wait for the rainy season to start up and just water veggies, flowers and trees as needed until then.

However, not watering lawns is done for frugal reasons, because water costs double in the summer.

We are lucky that our property came with a well that we use to keep our flowers and trees alive.

We haven't had rain in weeks and weeks, so there are brown lawns everywhere, but it doesn't really bother me because it's real, not fake like what you see in L.A.

p.s. I also want to add that I think more people should utilize all that lawn space with edible gardens instead.

If you are in an expensive neighborhood, the lawns can be "xeriscaped" by which some people simply mean not cared for at all and others mean attractively planted. In an expensive neighborhood front yard vegetable gardens are hip and socially responsible looking. In a borderline neighborhood like mine, all of this can look pretty trashy if poorly maintained or if it crosses that line between conscientious restraint and outright laziness.