In California's water crisis, neighbors turn in neighbors and even celebrities aren't spared
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-california-s-water-crisis-neighbors-turn-in-neighbors-and-even-celebrities-aren-t-spared/ar-AA10TDG3
From working-class neighborhoods to the celebrity haunts of Malibu, residents in the Los Angeles area have been getting visits from what is essentially the water police as California remains in a near constant state of drought.
Six million Southern California residents are under the toughest water restrictions in the nation. And because of the patchwork of different agencies overseeing different areas, that means different rules for everyone, sometimes even neighbors who live across the street from each other.
Leading the charge is Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which includes some of the richest areas of the region, including Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and parts of Malibu.
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For the biggest water users among its 75,000 customers, the agency has begun installing devices that limit flow inside homes and completely cut it off from the outdoors. Since new restrictions went into place June 1, the agency has installed 56 of the flow restrictors, which are stainless steel discs 1 inch in diameter fitted to water meters. The discs have a tiny hole the size of 1/16th of an inch and that's where the water trickles through, meaning low-flow showers and less effective appliances.
Only seven of the 56 installed restrictors remain in place because residents made the necessary changes for them to be removed, said Las Virgenes spokesman Mike McNutt, adding that once the devices are installed, they're left in place a minimum of two weeks.
Another 1,600 customers are on the list to get flow restrictors but the agency only has the capability to install 20 a week, McNutt said.
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'Nobody is getting preferential treatment'
And it doesn't matter whether your last name is Kardashian or Stallone, the agency promises residents that their status will not exempt them from flow restrictors.
"We're talking celebrities, people who are very wealthy, people who live in gated communities," McNutt said. "Nobody is getting preferential treatment."
So far, the agency has targeted the highest users of water, those who are quadrupling their allocated budgets. Among those who've been on the list include Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart, Kourtney Kardashian, Howie Mandell and Michael Jackson's estate, McNutt said.
Those celebrities and others can and have been able to get their names off the list before getting a device installed if they sign a water-use commitment form and lower their usage, he added.
While the agency monitors water use through meters, it also does neighborhood patrols like many other utilities in the region that are under restrictions, which include allowing residents to water their lawns only once a week.
Kitti McMeel, a 71-year-old portrait photographer living in Westlake Village, said she's been working hard to reduce her water use, but has now gotten three bills from Las Virgenes telling her she's over her monthly allotment. The most recent one told her she may be targeted for a flow restrictor.
"I wrote them an email because I was panicked," she said, citing a recent leak of her irrigation system that released about 600 gallons of water after she received a warning.
Since the new restrictions were announced, McMeel said she's been using a bucket to collect shower water that would otherwise be wasted while warming up and uses it for irrigation. She's also stopped rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and started combining whites and colors to cut down on laundry cycles, among other adjustments.
Since being notified she was over her allotment, she started a water diary to track her usage. It's all getting to be a bit too much.
"I would like to have a life besides worrying about my water," she said.
And if they install a flow restrictor on her home?
"I will figure out how to remove it myself or find someone who can remove it for me," she said.
Miriam Zacuto, a 60-year-old manager of a law practice who lives in nearby Agoura Hills, said she also believes in conservation but it feels like there's too much onus on the homeowners in her area.
Restrictions should be streamlined to apply to all Californians and the West, she said.
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