As Southern California continues to struggle with drought issues, some of the most famous celebrities in Los Angeles have been accused of violating water conservation restrictions.
Per the Los Angeles Times, some of the worst offenders include Kim Kardashian and her sister Kourtney, Kevin Hart, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, and Sylvester Stallone. All of them have received “notices of exceedance” from the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District during the state’s third year of drought. The celebrities were among over 2,000 customers who received such notices, as they had surpassed 150 percent of their monthly water budgets.
“Customers are expected to adhere to the water use reductions and water conservation measures that are in place due to this emergency,” read the notices, which were sent after the district imposed stage-three restrictions as part of an effort to reduce water consumption by 50 percent.
According to a Las Virgenes Municipal Water District spokesperson Mike McNutt, Wade and his Union’s property exceeded its allocated water budget in the month of June by over 1,400 percent. Their property used 90,000 gallons of water, a reduction from May when they used approximately 489,000 gallons. The couple has since released a statement and said they have “taken drastic steps to reduce water usage in accordance with the new city guidelines and have since we moved into our home.”
Stallone’s $18 million house in Hidden Hills, meanwhile, used more water in June than May. “They have more than 500 mature trees on the property, including innumerable fruit trees as well as pine trees,” reads a statement from the actor’s attorney Marty Singer. “Absent adequate watering, in all likelihood they would die. That could result in dead or damaged trees falling on my client’s property or neighboring properties.”
McNutt told NPR that fines have been issued to the celebrities, but it won’t do much to deter the rich and famous. “For the celebrities or musicians or athletes who all live in the area, monetary penalties are going to be meaningless to them because it doesn’t matter,” McNutt said. “They have plenty of money and if they want to, they could spend $5,000 a month on a water bill.”
The agency has already installed 20 flow restrictors and plans to add more.
