$10,000 fines a potent PR tool against water waste

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More than 600 empty docks sit on dry, cracked dirt at Folsom Lake Marina, one of the largest inland marinas in California. As the state ended 2014 with no guarantee of significant rain and snow this winter, Californians face the prospect of stricter rationing and meager irrigation deliveries for agriculture.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Researcher Blair McLaughlin, left, and Andrew Weitz, right, walk through Blue Oak trees looking for trees affected by the drought near Shandon, Calif.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Passing storm clouds provide the backdrop for an early morning walk on the sand at the Santa Ana River inlet in Newport Beach.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew from Smartgrass Synthetic Turf rolls up a pre-measured piece of artificial grass for installation in the backyard of a home in Pacific Palisades.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Rancher Bill Talbot opens a gate on his family’s leased ranch land near Bishop, Calif. Several ranchers are reducing their herds due to the drought.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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As the California drought grinds into its fourth year, the barren shoreline of Shasta Lake shows the steady drop in water level. The reservoir on the Sacramento River holds about 40% of the federal Central Valley Project’s stored supply.

(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Cindy Lazaris of the Catalina Island Conservancy walks along cracked earth that used to form the bottom of the Thompson (Middle Ranch) Reservoir, which has shrunk to a level which may cause the city of Avalon to cut its water usage by 50%.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles area residents could be required to cover swimming pools due to the drought.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Exposed shoreline shows low water levels at Castaic Lake.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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From an inspection boat in February 2014, San Gabriel Dam operators Herbert Romero, center, and Jose Aguilar use a measuring tape to determine that the depth of San Gabriel Reservoir near the dam is 50 feet deep. The lingering drought has exposed more than 121 feet of the reservoir’s shoreline. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Water rings mark receding levels of the Pine Flat Reservoir. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Lack of snow in a view from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Severe drought conditions reveal dry-docked boats in a parking lot and over 600 empty docks sitting on dry, cracked dirt at Folsom Lake Marina, which is one of the largest inland marinas in California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sunset’s glow illuminates the skyline and receding water due to severe drought conditions at Folsom Lake State Recreational Area. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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The effects of California’s ongoing drought are evident in the dry, cracked banks leftover from dropping water levels at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sunrise highlights patterns of sand that remain after the water receded at the drought-stricken Pine Flat Reservoir. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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The surrounding land is testimony to the effects of drought on the depleted Pine Flat Reservoir. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Irrihgation water floods the floor of a date palm grove in the Coachella Valley. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ court battle with two water agencies is one of several legal disputes over water that are being fought across California. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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CKen Gray of the Coachella Valley Water District kneels at a flume at one of many basins at the Thomas E. Levy Groundwater Replenishment Facility. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Earthen patterns are left behind from the receding waters of the drought-stricken Pine Flat Reservoir. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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In July 2014, marina owner Elaine Newton walks with her daughter Ashleigh Newton along docks and boat ramps that are now idle at Huntington Lake due to historically low water levels caused by the drought. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Patchy snow is all that’s on the ground at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park in January. The snow is normally much deeper at that time of year. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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In January 2014, cattle rancher Rob Frost surveys the remains of an animal that died due to drought conditions on grazing land near Santa Paula, where the grass is normally 6 to 10 inches high this time of year. Frost says in an ordinary year he will lose 1% of his cattle to natural causes but he is now losing nearly 10%. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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President Obama visits Los Banos, Calif., in February 2014 to see drought conditions. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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A lone fisherman waiting for a bite paces across a large portion of dry lake bed due to severe drought conditions at Folsom Lake. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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At drought-stricken Pine Flat Reservoir in October 2014, patterns are revealed by receding waters. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sunrise in October 2014 highlights patterns of sand amid puddles that remain at drought-stricken Pine Flat Reservoir in Sanger, Calif. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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City of Santa Barbara public works department intern Devon Schmidt steps along the shoreline in February after checking the intake weir for the city’s desalination plant. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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In October 2014, rancher Jon Pedotti walks on the parched, cracked lake bed of his 1,561-acre ranch along San Simeon Creek in the Santa Lucia Mountain foothills of Cambria. Of the lake, which fed water to his 280 cattle, he said: “It’s never been this dry.” (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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A dead lawn in Parkwood, Calif., in September 2014 after a well failed and the town had to import water. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Muddy water gushes out of a newly drilled well in July 2014 serving a farm in Terra Bella, Calif. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

By Matt Stevens

April 30, 2015 4:30 AM PT

Nobody knows how many water wasters there are in California. And it’s far from clear that converting them to zealous conservationists would make a major dent in the drought.

But the threat of fining wasters $10,000 a day —- as Gov. Jerry Brown proposed this week — could be a potent political and psychological weapon.

As the governor pushes to cut urban water use across California by 25% over the next year, experts say he must create a sense of urgency about the drought and the need to save water. And headline-making fines would underscore how seriously officials are taking the problem, even if relatively few $10,000 citations are handed out.

“A smart PR campaign is the carrot and the fines are the stick,” said Jonathan Parfrey, a former DWP commissioner and executive director of Climate Resolve. “$10,000 gets your attention … but encouraging people is always far, far better than pestering.”

Up to now, local water agencies across the state have leaned on public relations campaigns, rebate programs and educational outreach to drive down water consumption.

For example, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has issued only 10 financial penalties for repeated water waste since January 2014, despite handing out thousands of letters and citations, officials said Wednesday.

“Folks are listening,” spokeswoman Michelle Figueroa said. “There are hardly any repeat offenders that are assessed fines.”

Currently, local water districts can impose fines of up to $500 a day on customers who disregard local or state water restrictions on outdoor irrigation, spraying down sidewalks or causing runoff. The governor’s proposal, which must be negotiated with lawmakers, would increase the maximum penalty to $10,000. It would also provide a minimum set of enforcement tools for all local water agencies, including those that do not currently have enforcement power.

Water officials and experts have long said that fines are a last resort and they emphasized that point following Brown’s announcement Tuesday.

“Fines are a tool, and they’re the last tool you use,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board.

Brown’s office has not released any proposed legislation and the specifics of his plan remain hazy.

Some policy experts say that the biggest benefit of the effort would be giving local agencies the power to impose more costly penalties on big businesses that are unlikely to be deterred by a $500 fine.

“This is a bargaining chip,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. “Whatever number the governor used, he put the onus on local government” to administer the fines. “I don’t think anybody has given any indication they want to do that.”

Many water agencies around California have adopted tiered water rates that encourage conservation by charging heavy water users at a higher rate than lighter users.

But an appeals court last week threw the legality of this rate structure into question, saying that San Juan Capistrano’s tiered rates were unconstitutional because the city didn’t sufficiently prove that its highest rates reflected the true cost of providing the water.

Officials at water agencies that use tiered pricing have said they find it highly effective in cutting water use. And many believe their rate structures will be able to pass legal muster.

But if more tiered rates are struck down, “fines become the most critical financial tool to motivate water consumption reductions,” said Mark Gold of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

“Although no one likes them, people respond to fines,” he added. “Whether it is a speeding ticket, littering, filing late tax returns, or wasting water, people will stop breaking the law when there’s a substantial financial penalty.… The fine provision lets everyone know that the state and water agencies are mandating conservation now.”

matt.stevens@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByMattStevens

Times staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.