Rick Silva is known as the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s “water cop,” and if there’s evidence you’re wasting water on your sidewalk, lawn or vehicle, expect him to give you a warning or a fine.
Since California is in extreme drought conditions and new water regulations went into effect Aug. 1, repeat offenders will be hit with fines on a sliding scale. The maximum penalty is up to $500 a day.
Silva, who is the head of LADWP’s Water Conservation Response Unit, told the Palisadian-Post he’s always been impressed with how knowledgeable Palisadians are regarding drought-tolerant landscaping and water-conservation education.
“I’ve had a lot of positive visits in the Palisades,” Silva said.
Typically, the complaints levied on Palisadians involve irrigating on the wrong day or irrigation run off. Silva said one resident recently received a warning for hosing down his driveway.
Between 2009 and 2012 Silva said they gave out 300 financial penalties and none went to a second penalty.
“Most people complied,” he said. “For the few who didn’t, the first financial penalty did the trick.”
It isn’t until a fifth violation that Silva’s crew is forced to shut off the water at an address, but offenders are entitled to a hearing.
Silva has seen what’s been described as “drought shaming” in L.A., where neighbors tattle on one another, but he couldn’t say whether or not this is happening in the Palisades.
“We get stuff like that all the time,” he said, adding that “if water’s being run into a backyard, we have to see it.”
Neighborhoods like the Palisades, Silva reiterates, are embracing drought-tolerant landscaping more than others, especially due to DWP’s $3 a square foot rebate incentive program.
For more information on water conservation and ordinances, visit ladwp.com. For the latest on the drought, visit www.swrcb.ca.org.
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