Sprinklers Monitored and Trickles Investigated, With Some Effect: In Los Angeles, Consumption Is Lowest in 32 Years
By The Wall Street Journal
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.
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'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.
Not everyone is thrilled. At 10:30 p.m. on a recent Thursday, Susan Ryan stood under the low hues of her porch light watering her lawn. "We've got the drought czars wandering around the neighborhood," she said. She was busted once for a faulty sprinkler. The next time will bring a fine.
Because the city area is so large -- covering nearly 500 square miles -- the water cops wouldn't be able to do their jobs without tips from neighbors. The city's anonymous hotline and email address pulls in dozens of tips a day from residents ratting out nearby water wasters.
Ms. Ryan complained that not everyone on her block abides by the two-day-a-week rule for lawn watering. "Some of my neighbors have been cheating," she said.
But she stops short of turning them in. "I don't like the dynamic that it sets up," she said.
Others are more zealous. Gayle Martin, a landscaper who lives in the city's Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, has been on the lookout. She used one facet of the water conservation program -- cards residents can hang on their neighbor's doors alerting them to water waste. The city dubs it the "Neighbors Helping Neighbors Save Water" program. One neighbor, she said, was flooding the sidewalk.
"She has broken sprinkler heads that shoot up and just flood the gutter," she said. "It's just a mess."
Since June, the water cops have conducted more than 4,600 investigations, resulting in 834 warnings, but only 23 of the $100 fines. That is because catching an offender in the act twice is very difficult. On one occasion, they nabbed a third-time offender, for a $200 fine. They handed out three citations to egregious defenders for $300 fines. The goal of the program, said the DWP's Mr. Nahai, is not to raise money, but to reduce water use.
The biggest threat water wasters face is their bill. Under the city's two-tiered billing structure, rates spike by 45% for customers who use more than a certain amount.
Fashion designer Ann Ferriday said her water bill became "something crazy, like $450," which she said might be attributable to her pool, which needs to be refilled from time to time, and her daily lawn waterings.
"My bill was so outrageous," she said. "They said I was on this upper tier and I couldn't figure out why." She has since tried to remedy her water problems. But she said she can't wait till the drought ends "so that everything can go back to normal."
