State Fines Four Water Agencies for Failing to Conserve Enough Water

California’s water resources control board announced Friday that residents are taking heed of the governor’s mandate that we all cut back on water usage.

Statewide, residents cut their water use by 26.1 percent in September, compared to the baseline year of 2013. That bested Gov. Jerry Brown’s call for an overall 25 percent drop in statewide water use.

“Millions of Californians have saved water during the summer months, which are the four most critical months to save water,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, in a news release. “This is important and wonderful, and we are thankful for all of the effort by individuals and agencies. Now, we need to keep it up as best we can, even as we hope for as much rain and snow as we can safely handle. We’re in the position of having to prepare for drought and flooding at the same time, but that’s what we’re faced with.”

The water board said that ”nearly all” water suppliers in the state are complying with new conservation standards, except four of them who have “consistently failed” to cut back enough.

The cities of Beverly Hills, Indio, Redlands and the Coachella Valley Water District were each fined $61,000, becoming the first public water providers to receive financial penalties for failing to meet the state’s conservation goals, state regulators announced.

Indio is under a state mandate to cut its water use by 32 percent.

State figures show Indio residents cut their water use by 12 percent in September, compared to 2013, and 21.6 percent for the period from June to September.

The Coachella Valley Water District has been ordered to cut water use by 36 percent, compared to 2013 levels. From June to September, CVWD customers reduced use by just over 26 percent.

Beverly Hills and Redlands were also each fined $61,000.

“Up and down the state, residents and water suppliers are making the necessary sacrifices needed to help California meet its conservation goals,” said Cris Carrigan, state director of the Office of Enforcement. “However, some urban water suppliers simply have not met the requirements laid before them. For these four suppliers, it’s been too little too late to achieve their conservation standard.”

The penalized suppliers have 20 days to appeal the fines to the full State Water Board.

Individual cities and water agencies throughout the state were assigned varying conservation mandates based on their historical usage amounts.

“Millions of Californians have saved water during the summer months, which are the four most critical months to save water,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “This is important and wonderful, and we are thankful for all of the effort by individuals and agencies. Now we need to keep it up as best we can, even as we hope for as much rain and snow as we can safely handle.

“We’re in the position of having to prepare for drought and flooding at the same time, but that’s what we’re faced with,” she said.

– City News Service contributed to this report.

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