California

Beverly Hills Water Wasters Could Face New $1,000 Fine

Residents in Beverly Hills are now facing up to a $1,000 fine if they waste water. The Beverly Hills City Council agreed to implement a modified version of part of the city’s emergency water conservation program Tuesday amid California’s historic drought

Residents in Beverly Hills are now facing up to a $1,000 fine if they waste water.

The Beverly Hills City Council agreed to implement a modified version of part of the city’s emergency water conservation program Tuesday amid California’s historic drought, according to the city’s website.

"Look at your practices, look at your landscape, look at how to do it differently," said Trish Rhay from the Beverly Hills Department of Public Works. "We're going to be helping the citizens figure out how to do it differently, how to plant differently."

People who violate the amended version of Stage D could be fined and risk having their water turned off. 

"I don't think any of us want brown grass, but you know, if it's going to help California, absolutely. We'll do it two days or even one day if that's what's advised," said Beverly Hills resident Ingram James.

City officials hoped by carrying out the modified part of the city's emergency water conservation program,  the city would meet the state-mandated goal of a 36 percent reduction in water use.

"We are in a crisis situation with the drought and Beverly Hills is determined to meet the new water conservation goals," said Mayor Julian Gold in a news release. "We will evaluate our progress on a regular basis and make adjustments to our conservation program as needed. New technology as well as education will be a big part of the program because saving water is a long-range as well as a short-range goal."

Their decision came in response to the announcement that the Water Metropolitan Water District, which supplies 90 percent of the city’s water, was projected to cutback water delivery to the area by 15 percent.

According to the news release, the new water conservation requirements are:

  • Restaurants to serve water only at a customer’s request
  • All public restrooms and private bathrooms in hotels will notify patrons and employees of water conservation goals.
  • Plumbing and irrigation leaks will be repaired as soon as possible. The city will issue notices to repair visible leaks.
  • Landscape irrigation will be restricted to two days per week
  • Existing swimming pools cannot be drained and refilled
  • Exterior wash-down of buildings and wash-down of vehicles will be prohibited, unless: The washing is done on the premises of a commercial car wash or commercial service station or with reclaimed wastewater; The health, safety and welfare of the public are contingent upon frequent vehicle cleaning, such as the cleaning of garbage trucks and vehicles to transport food and perishables.
  • Water usage from fire hydrants will be limited to firefighting, related activities or other activities necessary to maintain the public’s health, safety and welfare.
  • Except for single-family and multi-family residential users in tier 1 who will remain in tier 1 for the next billing cycle, users will reduce water usage to seventy percent (70 percent) of the amount in the baseline period as determined by the City council.
  • Except for single-family and multi-family residential users in tier 1 during the current billing cycle, a tiered water penalty surcharge based on the cost of providing the higher volume of water will be established.

More information on the city's water conservation efforts can be found here.

NBC4's Ted Chen contributed to this report.

Contact Us