Tourists are shown in Beverly Hills, Calif., April 3, 2015.
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One important thing to note is that the water reduction totals for each city are cumulative for the entire water reduction period of June 2015 through February 2016.
The State Water Resources Control Board said water use was reduced by 26 percent during September, meeting the state’s goal of 25 percent.
Beverly Hills was among four Californian cities to be slapped with fines for using too much water, as the west coast USA state struggles with a historic drought.
Californians tapped into urban water systems reduced water use by more than 26 percent during September, exceeding the governors 25 percent conservation mandate for a fourth straight month.
But a few districts had not done almost enough to cut back, officials said Friday.
The cities of Beverly Hills, Redlands and Indio and the Coachella Valley Water District have all been issued fines of $61,000.
While the state as a whole is on track to meet its goal, the Coachella Valley is another story: None of the area’s six water agencies met their individual targets over the first four months, meaning they could see more fines from the state, possibly as high as $10,000 a day.
“The news is still quite good”, said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, in a Friday conference call.
Most water used by local residents is applied to their yards. “These penalties send a signal that there are consequences”. The fines can be appealed to the board.
Beverly Hills missed its mark by 11.7 percent from June to September, wasting 175 million gallons.
“The city has not demonstrated improved conservation”, he said. “Per capita consumption is not decreasing”.
Beverly Hills officials said in a statement that the city was striving to meet its water conservation goals and that penalty surcharges had come into effect in October.
But Carrigan warned that these “very well might not be the last of the fines”.
The board also fined four water agencies that have repeatedly failed to meet their mandates.
Many local governments now have state-funded turf removal and toilet replacement rebates in place to further encourage water conservation.
Most Californians, including those in San Luis Obispo County, continued to meet the state’s mandatory water conservation goals in September, but savings rates are down slightly from August.
Carrigan also slammed both agencies for refusing to issue a single fine to customers who violated water-waste rules from June through September, despite receiving almost 1,000 complaints over that time.
“We’re in a tough pickle on this”, Marcus said. “Would I like a bigger cushion?”
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“The representation that we haven’t done enough – I think it is at odds with what we have done, and frankly the efforts our customers have made to save a tremendous amount of water”, Powell said. “A crisis of this magnitude demands action on all fronts”.
