Would a $500 fine get you to stop wasting water?

Californians caught wasting water may soon face stiff fines. State water officials are considering penalties up to $500 a day for washing a car without a proper nozzle or flooding lawns. Will this latest strategy work? So far, despite a record drought, most regions in the state have failed to make big gains in water conservation. What else can be done?

For more, we're joined by Stephanie Pincetl, director of UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities.

Check out the study from UCLA on water use and conservation in Los Angeles, which proposed recommendations such as:

• Implementing a revised multi-tiered pricing structure for residential water use, aimed at increasing conservation while minimizing the cost burden on low-income consumers. One possibility would be a pricing structure with more than the current two tiers, in which the unit price for water rises as the volume of water consumption increases; another would be a combining an increasing block rate structure with seasonal rates, in which prices increase during the summer.
• Establishing reasonable water budgets for households based on location and household characteristics. Homeowners who use more than their allotted amount would see increases in their bills.
• Introducing educational programs and stronger financial incentives to promote the use of drought-resistant landscaping and improved irrigation.