Drought Watch: Statewide water-waste fines in effect today.

A few weeks back on my morning bike commute, I watched automatic sprinklers at the Wendy's in Seaside spray well beyond the restaurant's thin strip of grass. Water ran down the sidewalks and into the storm drain.

Starting today, that kind of water waste will become pretty expensive.

The State Water Resources Control Board's emergency rules, including $500 fines for water wasters, are effective Aug. 1. Staff at the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District are getting ready.

MPWMD General Manager David Stoldt says the state rules are actually less strict than existing district regulations, but those are seldom enforced. With the state urging local water districts to crack down, MPWMD's planning a two-pronged approach. 

First comes the outreach. MPWMD just allocated $75,000 from its drought reserve fund for a multilingual campaign, Stoldt says, including advertisements in print, TV, radio and social media.

“Simple stuff," Stoldt says. "We still get restaurants that serve water without being asked, people washing down their sidewalks, overwatering due to faulty irrigation.”

Next comes the enforcement. If a water-wasting violation is blatant, Stoldt says, the district will first issue a fix-it ticket with no fine. Second violation brings a $100 ticket, followed by a $250 ticket, and finally a $500 ticket for each subsequent violation. 

As of July 29, the California Drought Monitor shows more than 58 percent of the state at the most intense level, "exceptional drought." The state's topsoil and subsoil moisture reserves are 80-85 percent depleted. Seventy percent of rangelands are rated "poor to very poor." Storage in the state's reservoirs at the end of June was 60 percent of the historical average.

While residents statewide have fallen short of water conservation goals, Stoldt says ratepayers in California American Water's Monterey District are using 9.5 percent less than the production limit and 5 percent less than this time last year. “Around here, it’s more of the same," he says. "People are conserving."

With a few exceptions—he recently spotted a pallet full of fresh sod outside a residence in Pebble Beach—Stoldt says locals seem to be willing to sacrifice water-intensive habits like irrigating their lawns as the drought intensifies.

“People have voluntarily turned [their sprinklers] off," he says. "Brown is the new green."

Report water waste by emailing waterwaste@mpwmd.net or calling MPWMD's Water Waste Hotline: 658-5653.