City Violates Its Own Water Conservation Law

This afternoon I was driving down the main street in our town and I happened to notice two sets of sprinklers running. Apparently they had been operating for some time, as the area was soaked and excess water was running down the street into the storm drains.

Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't a river of water large enough to wash away children and pets. No homes were in danger, and nobody was filling sand bags nearby. But when a man floated by in his rowboat I knew we had a problem.

To make matters worse, the state of California is currently in a drought situation. The water supply to Southern California has been drastically reduced to maintain the habitat of the small Delta Smelt fish that live in the Sacramento River Delta. Our city has gone one step further. They have instituted a new city ordinance wherein a citizen can be fined hundreds of dollars for wasting water. It is now against the law to wash off your driveway or to run your lawn sprinklers for more than 15 minutes. It is against the law to water your lawns between the hours of 7am and 5 pm. Showers are limited to 5 minutes. Citizens are even encouraged to report violations in their neighborhoods and to call a special hot-line if they see one of their neighbors wasting water.

Being a good law abiding citizen I was alarmed to see the city watering at 3:45pm in violation of their own ordinance.

My first reaction was to do nothing. After all, it was possible that someone else had already complained to the city. In addition I didn't have the telephone number of the hot-line, anyway. Besides it's not my responsibility to enforce the city's ordinances. Right??

But as I continued down the hill next to the river of wasted water I started to get angry. They city wanted me to report on my neighbors, so why shouldn't I call them for violating their own law?

When I reached my destination I asked for a phone book and quickly looked up the telephone number of the city's 24 hour hot-line.

When I dialed the number on my cell phone, a man answered, "Can I help you?"

I told him about the two sprinkler systems and the water running down the hill into the storm drain. His response was typical of a government employee so it should not have surprised me.

"So what's the problem?" he snapped back at me arrogantly.

"Take a look at your watch, buddy!" I responded. "You guys would fine me a hundred dollars if they were my sprinklers!"

My angry voice and his corresponding vision of me standing there with a pitchfork in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, must have had a calming effect on him, and he answered, "I see what you mean."

He took down the location of the sprinklers and my telephone number, and told me that someone would be dispatched immediately to turn off the water.

About 3 hours later I just happened to drive up that same hill on my way home from Home Depot. To my surprise there was a city truck parked on the side of the road in the river of water. The city employee had just turned off the water and was wading through the river to get to his truck.

I felt good inside.

Not only had I done my civic duty and helped to enforce the law, but I had also saved the Delta Smelt from instinction.