Councilman: Bel Air Water Hogs Must Be Made to Pay

A Bel Air homeowner who used 11.8 million gallons of water in a recent year, along with other excessive water users in Los Angeles, should have to pay fines or face the threat that their water will be shut off, a Los Angeles city councilman said today.

Despite using 90 households-worth of water, or enough to flush the toilet 6,400 times per day, amid a severe statewide drought, the Bel Air homeowner faces no consequences from the city water department, a situation Councilman Paul Koretz said he wants to correct.

Koretz represents the Bel Air neighborhood, which has four of the biggest known residential water users in the California, according to a recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

In response to this news, Koretz introduced a motion today asking the Department of Water and Power to report back in 30 days on steps to discourage the over-use of water, such as exacting financial penalties or threatening to shut-off the water if usage is not cut back.

“It is not only dangerously irresponsible to waste water like this, it is a slap in the face to the rest of us who are working hard and doing our part,” Koretz said.

The motion, seconded by council members Herb Wesson, David Ryu and Mitch O’Farrell, is scheduled to be taken up in City Council on Wednesday.

Despite the high water use by some of the city’s wealthiest residents, water customers in Los Angeles managed to cut usage by 17 percent in August, compared with the same month in 2013.

DWP officials, responding to the investigative report earlier this year, said the top 100 residential water users in Los Angeles represents two-10ths of 1 percent of all water use in the city.

City News Service