California City Orders Couple To Water Their Lawn Despite Worst Drought Ever

This couple faces fines in Glendora, CA because
they're not watering their lawn because of the intense drought.  

Michael Korte and his wife, Laura Whitney thought they were doing the right thing. They live in Glendora, California, pretty much ground zero in the state's intense drought.  

So they stopped watering their lawn. They didn't want to waste water. State officials have been telling people like the Glendora couple to not waste water.

The couple's lawn turned brown. Korte and Whitney weren't concerned. They were doing what they thought was right.

Not in the eyes of the city of Glendora, they aren't.  The city threatened the couple with a $500 fine if they don't start watering their lawn and making it nice and green again. 

Apparently, lush green lawns in Glendora are much, MUCH more important than the question of whether they'll run out of water.

According to SFGate:

"Local officials says conserving water and maintaining healthy landscaping are not mutually exclusive goals. They caustion that even in times of water shortages, residents shouldn't have free rein to drive down property values, and they can use drought-resistent landscaping or turf removal programs to meet local standards."

So, dumping water on grass to keep it green is not wasting water?  California state officials, with a little more wisdom, have been running a "brown is the new green" campaign, to make it cool to have a brown lawn in a drought.

I guess that doesn't apply in Glendora.

I also don't think a brown lawn is going to drive down property values, unless it's in the form of tall weeds. And wouldn't having no running water in houses at all due to drought drive down property values even more?

Ironically, Korte and Whitney would have faced a $500 fine if they had lived in other parts of the state and HAD watered their lawn to keep it green. Those fines are meant to restrict wasteful water usage.

So yes, the couple is a little confused by some government agencies telling them to conserve water or else, and other agencies telling them to waste water, or else.

I guess to the people that run the fair city of Glendora, it's OK to make a drought worse, as long as the lawns are lush and green while you do it.