Encourage tenants to save water
Re “After a dry spell, Drought Busters program is back,” Nov. 19
It is absurd for the L.A. Department of Water and Power to think that asking residents to conserve or be fined $50 or $150 will simply solve the water crisis, especially when the message only reaches half of the city’s consumers. Almost half of the city’s residents are apartment tenants in master-metered buildings who do not pay for their own water. Who will pay the fine if the apartment building is not meeting its conservation level -- the building owner who might not even live there?
To conserve, L.A. must devise a method -- such as a ratio utility billing system -- to charge tenants for the water they use. If tenants paid for their own water, they would be more inclined to conserve.
Jim Clarke
Manager
Government relations
Apartment Assn. of
Greater Los Angeles
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