Celebrities accused of contributing to California water crisis
4 Min Read
Hollywood figures are among the 1,600 residents in California that have been overusing their water limits, amid a water and drought crisis combined that have hit the US West harder than expected.
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The drought effect in Calabasas, Calif. (WSJ)
Celebrities including Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, Kevin Hart and Sylvester Stallone have been served with notices for exceeding their monthly water budgets at least four times, according to officials in California.
Las Virgenes Municipal Water District spokesperson Mike McNutt told Axios on Tuesday evening that these celebrities were among more than 1,600 people who have surpassed their water budgets by 150% as the state faces a water and drought crisis exacerbated by climate change.
The district, which covers affluent Los Angeles County cities famous for being celebrity residences including the Calabasas, Hidden Hills, and Westlake Village, named the celebrities in order to highlight that California is facing a "collectively serious problem," McNutt told Axios in a phone interview.
"At historic lows"
With five large fires already currently burning across the state (and seeing its largest earlier this month) the ongoing megadrought has led California Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand a drought emergency declaration last October and officials in the south of the state to declare a water shortage emergency in April, restricting outdoor water usage. He stated the plan to harvest, recycle and desalinate much more water to keep up with the rapidly changing environment.
The spokesperson added: "That is not just a drought, but the bigger picture of a changing climate, and how we're starting to see in the Southwest, a slow aridification process where we're a Mediterranean climate, but we're more moving into a desert type of environment now because of climate change influencing that, adding: "When you have dry, brittle vegetation, where it's close to homes, that's a major problem for structural damage after a wildfire is rearing its head".
The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District issued a state of emergency over the water crisis in May and introduced watering restrictions and wasteful water penalties as a deterrence. While fines of up $500 for violating water conservation measures may not be incentive enough for the state's wealthy residents, the district can install a flow restriction device or terminate service after a fourth violation.
"Our water agency is 100% dependent upon imported water. We're one of the few water agencies, especially in southern California ... that has one singular source of water," McNutt said. "That's snowmelt runoff that comes from the Sierra Nevada mountains over 400 miles away to the California Aqueduct. The whole infrastructure, the whole system ... the reservoirs are, are at historic lows. Our groundwater aquifers are being depleted, we're in a very precarious situation", pointing to long term forecasts by agencies like NOAA indicating the Southwest would see higher temperatures, lower precipitation that promotes dry conditions.
According to McNutt, all of them have reduced water use by working with officials on measures such as limiting swimming pool refills, removing grass lawns, and installing drip irrigation systems. He wants the celebrities to become "agents of change" for water conservation in order for Americans to transition from a "green lawn mindset" into "drought tolerant landscaping, using native plants being part of the local ecosystem."
Scientists expect California's water supplies to diminish an additional 10% over the coming decades, with the current drought to be part of the long-term aridification of the region. US President Joe Biden has recently signed a $430 billion bill - the Inflation Reduction Act - that is the largest climate package in US history, which stipulates cutting domestic greenhouse gas emissions, lowering prescription drug prices and high inflation, which the Federal Reserve said will become rooted in the US economy.
