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Even in the middle of a drought and calling on his fellow Angelenos to reduce water usage throughout the city, the residence of Mayor Eric Garcetti uses over five times the average Los Angeles home.
The Getty House, the official residence of Los Angeles mayors past and present, uses an average of over 2,100 gallons of water per day. The figures, which were obtained by LA Weekly from the Department of Water and Power, date back to January of 2012. Under former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the House used an average of 2,165 gallons of water per day. Since Garcetti moved in, in late 2013, the house used an average of 2,103 gallons per day. The 62 gallons per month saved by the Garcetti residency after the Villaraigosa amounts to a 2.9% reduction.
The Getty House is located in the wealthy Hancock Park neighborhood and is a large, old home featuring extensive gardens on its property, which leads to heavy water use. Garcetti, who has ordered city buildings to cut down on water use, had the lawns recently removed from the front of the house. Work will also eventually be done on the gardens in an effort to conserve water.
Jeff Millman, the mayor's spokesman also told the Weekly that the residence serves as more than just the house of the mayor. "Getty House is being used more frequently for public events than in the past, and also contains office space for the Getty House Foundation. Most of the house is dedicated space for public events, with a smaller portion of the house for the family's private use," said Millman.
The UCLA Center for Sustainable Communities found in a study last year that the average Los Angeles household uses 387 gallons per day, making the Getty House's water usage about five times the city average. The same study also found that water usage is strongly correlated with income. The State Water Resources Control Board found that in September of this year Beverly Hills averaged 286 gallons per person a day, almost six times the amount used in East Los Angeles. Overall, the Board found that statewide water usage was down 10.3% from what it was a year ago.
Last month, Mayor Garcetti issued Executive Directive No. 5, which called on Angelenos and particularly city agencies to reduce their water usage by 20% by 2017 in order to cope with the drought.
