California is in a state of emergency regarding its severe drought, and while many people in the state have taken action, not everyone has. Someone in Bel Air reportedly used 11.8 million gallons of water in a single year, according to a document obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting from the California Public Records.
There’s no word on the identity of this obnoxious water guzzler, but according to the Department of Water and Power’s rate structure, their annual water bill likely topped $90,000. And, despite the emergency, as long as they follow the other usage rules, the CIR says there’s really nothing (legally) that can be done.
The document also shows that there were 365 California households that used more than 1 million gallons of water each in the year the survey took place, which was from April 2014 to April 2015. Bel Air, in particular, had 19 houses that used more than 2.8 million gallons, while nearby Beverly Hills had 32 households in the same bracket.
Of course, this one person isn’t causing the drought, and neither are the other 365 people in the 1 million-plus club.
And things may be looking up. On April 1, Governor Jerry Brown imposed a historic executive order mandating a 25 percent reduction of urban water use. It was reported by the Los Angeles Times that since then—well, in May and June—California's water usage in fact went down. We will see if Californians can keep it up, otherwise, fingers crossed for those El Nino predictions to come true.