Water Your Lawn, Pay $500; Don’t Water Your Lawn, Pay $500

Californians are in quite a pickle over the
drought that’s been making the golden state a crispy brown since
late last year. And now, different levels of government are
guaranteeing to make the crisis even more difficult.

On Tuesday the California Water Resources Control
Board announced
that beginning August 1 they would begin fining individuals $500 a
day for washing cars, hosing sidewalks, or watering lawns.

Also on Tuesday the city of Glendora, California sent a warning
to Laura Whitney and Michael Korte: Water your lawn or pay
$500.

The Associated Press (AP) explains that the city isn’t pleased
to see the couple’s grass is dead, but it’s dead “because of their
conservation, which, besides a twice-a-week lawn watering regimen,
includes shorter showers and larger loads of laundry.” From the

report:

“Despite the water conservation efforts, we wish to remind you
that limited watering is still required to keep landscaping looking
healthy and green,” says the letter, which gives Korte and Whitney
60 days to restore their lawn. …

Local officials say conserving water and maintaining healthy
landscaping are not mutually exclusive goals. They caution that
even in times of water shortages, residents shouldn’t have free
rein to drive down property values, and they can use
drought-resistant landscaping or turf removal programs to meet
local standards.

However, the AP also notes that at least in one
case, an Orange County resident “spent more than $600 on the
changes as [a local] agency mandated she water and maintain her
yard in ‘a healthy green condition.'” 

This isn’t the first time California’s regulations have
threatened to make the drought worse. As Reason‘s Scott
Shackford pointed out earlier this year, the push to ban plastic
bags (so far unsuccessful statewide, but in effect in
plenty of cities) means that people have to buy reusable bags,
which they then have to wash, which
defeats the push to save water.