Riverside County cracks down on water conservation

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Get ready for new water rules in Riverside: You won't be able to water your lawn as much -- and that's not all. Other cities are thinking about doing even more.

As California gets deeper into a severe drought, more people are doing their part to conserve water, like installing drought-tolerant landscaping.

"This drought is unprecedented, really, in the history of California," said Mike Bacich, assistant general manager, Riverside Public Utilities.

The Riverside Public Utilities Board voted Friday to do something they've never done before: cutting back lawn watering to four days per week.

"It is pretty severe, and we've been in and out of droughts before, but we've never seen one like this before," said Bacich.

Other agencies are getting even more restrictive. For example, Rancho California Water District in Temecula is talking about banning people from installing new lawns.

But what about people who waste water? Much has been made about those big $500 fines approved by the state. Will they actually be enforced?

"We don't currently fine anyone for wasting water," said Bacich.

And the same thing goes for the area covered by Eastern Municipal Water District.

"We do have a fine structure in place that we can rely on," said Kevin Pearson, public affairs officer, Eastern Municipal Water District. "However for us, the best thing that we can do is our allocation-based rate structure: When you use more water, you're naturally going to go into a higher tier and get a higher bill."

So the question remains: Just how tough are water agencies going to get? Some agencies are taking a more positive approach. For example, in Riverside they're passing out coasters at restaurants, urging people to not ask for water unless you really want to drink it.