CALIFORNIA: Beverly Hills, notorious for being home to many big-name celebrities, has been fined for failing to cut back on water use.
One resident of the star-studded town has reportedly guzzled a whopping 11.8 million gallons (42m litres) of water in a year, enough for 90 households. The district was fined US$61,000 ($90,000) with the desert cities of Indio, Redlands and Coachella.
It is the first time California officials have imposed fines on communities that have failed to meet conservation goals imposed because of the state's crippling four-year drought. Cris Carrigan, director of the California Water Board's enforcement office, said the four cities fined collectively wasted about 8.7 billion litres of water since June.
He said if they failed to cut back on water use, the fines could be ramped up to US$10,000 a day.
According to a UCLA study, the state's wealthier neighbourhoods consume three times more water than less-affluent ones. Beverly Hills officials said the city was striving to meet its water conservation goals and penalty surcharges came into effect last month.
