Enforced Water Conservation Could Be Coming

A kid plays in a sprinkler

Yesterday at a press conference with Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard regarding the renewal of a Sister City relationship, Mayor Villaraigosa went off topic, but with good reason: water woes could be ahead, according to the Daily News.

With the fires, extreme water drought and light snowpack this year, water is tight. Earlier this summer, the mayor made a call for the public to voluntarily reduce water use, hoping for a 10% decrease (even though an LA Times investigation found that his, the city attorney and other councilmember's households used an above average amount of water). According to the DWP, overall water use is only down 3% compared to the same time last year.

Currently, a small team of water police, aka the Drought Busters, are patrolling the city to find water misuse, trying to get people to voluntarily cut back. But come 2008, citations and enforced and mandatory conservation may be enacted.

The City of Long Beach has already begun mandatory water restrictions. For us in Los Angeles, we may want to consider the urban adage, "If it's Yellow, Mellow; If it's Brown, Flush it Down."

Photo by Greg Westfall via Flickr

Email This Entry


Comments (1) [rss]

It still won't be soon enough. And the city seems to be actively not doing anything about water wasters. I've sent addresses AND photos of people wasting water, and the lady at the DWP just said, "Thanks!" When pressed if there was any incentive for these people to stop it, she just said, "Well, I understand your concern but their bills will be higher." Somehow, I don't think she fully grasped what I was talking about.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

About LAist

LAist is a website about Los Angeles. More

Editor: Zach Behrens Co-Editor: Lindsay William-Ross Publisher: Gothamist

Contribute

Latest Tip:

Any ideas why the 110 off/on ramps will be shut down for 1 year starting tomorrow from the hours of
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from LAist.

All Our RSS

Links