In a place where lush gardens and green lawns decorate the yards of wealthy families and celebrities, resource authorities are taking extreme steps to cut down on the amount of water used by their customers–many times with the help of neighbors who turn them in, USA Today reports.
The Las Virgenes Water District, which serves wealthy neighborhoods like Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Agoura Hills, has been installing restrictor plates into the service lines of particularly egregious offenders of district’s water conservation rules. People caught watering lawns (which are not native to the Southern California), filling pools (also not native) or failing to repair water leaking devices in their homes–as well as those who defiantly exceed their granted allotments–are being informed that they will have greater restrictions placed on their water supply via metal discs with a 1/16th-inch hole placed in their water meters.
The discs impede the flow of water into the house’s water meter, physically limiting the amount–and pressure–of water the system can use. This can automatically turn ever shower into a “low-flow” device and it can render most lawn-watering systems useless.
Of the 75,000 customers in the Las Virgenes Water District, 56 have had the restrictor discs installed. Currently, only seven of those customers remain restricted; the others have come into compliance with water conservation regulations. Another 1,600 customers are scheduled to get sanctioned, but the district can only install or remove 20 discs per week due to manpower problems and to ensure the workers are protected from angry homeowners. The discs remain in place for a minimum of two weeks.
Because of the limitations on the ability to install the discs, only the worst offenders–people going 400% or more over their allotments–are being targeted. This includes people like Among those who’ve been on the list include Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart, Kourtney Kardashian, Howie Mandell and Michael Jackson’s estate.
“Nobody is getting preferential treatment,” Las Virgenes Water District spokesman Mike McNutt said.
Neighbors and communities are also joining the fight against the water wasters. Compared to May 2021, when the district received 554 complaints from people about their neighbors’ excessive use, complaints in May 2022 skyrocketed to nearly 1,200, a 120% increase.
“Ninety-nine percent of the population are receptive,” Lawrence Springer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s conservation response unit said. “They tend to want to make the corrections not only because they don’t want to receive citations but also this is basically a waste of water and a waste of money. So they tend to want to make the correction so that they save water and save money in the process.”
Springer typically writes warnings and citations for violations. The first notice is a warning, but follow-up citations carry fines from $200 to $600, with potential civil action available for persistent offenders. In some cases, when he arrives at the site of complaint, Springer is able to help a homeowner identify the location of a persistent leak, like a split water supply line, a running toilet or a leaky exterior spigot.