Some wealthy Californians openly don't think they should have to limit their water usage

Sprinklers on a lawn.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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.

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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, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.