Some wealthy Californians openly don't think they should have to limit their water usage
In statements so tone-deaf they would make Marie Antoinette wince, a few vocal residents of Rancho Santa Fe, California, spoke with The Washington Post about the horrors of having to reduce their water consumption during the drought.
Steve Yuhas, a conservative radio talk show host, was aghast at the idea of being "forced to live on property with brown lawns [and] golf on brown courses." Rancho Santa Fe uses five times more water per capita than the statewide average, and in April, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) called for a 25 percent reduction in water use, usage actually went up by 9 percent. "We pay significant property taxes based on where we live, and no, we're not all equal when it comes to water," Yuhas said.
Although everyone in California is being asked to rally together to save water for the good of the state, it really irritates the people of Rancho Santa Fe that they can't keep their sprinklers on 24/7, drain their pools every day, take 3-hour showers, and leave their faucets on until the pipes run dry. "I think we're being overly penalized, and we're certainly being over scrutinized by the world," interior designer Gay Butler told the Post, as she rode on her show horse, Bear. "It angers me because people aren't looking a the overall picture. What are we supposed to do, just have dirt around our house on four acres?"
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That's basically what the article's lone voice of reason, Holly Manion, has done. A real estate agent, she has changed her landscape to include drought-resistant plants, and it bothers her to know that not everyone in her neighborhood is taking the drought seriously. "There are people, they aren't being responsible," Manion said. "They're just thinking of their own lives."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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