The
measure, signed on Monday by California Governor Jerry Brown,
prohibits a city or county from imposing a fine on a homeowner
for the failure to water a lawn or for having a brown lawn
during the drought emergency.
Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, who sponsored the measure, said she
knew of a number of cities and towns that had been leveling
fines on homeowners for allowing their grass to go brown even as
state officials have asked the public to "severely limit"
outdoor water use this summer.
Part of the state "Save Our Water" campaign urges Californians
to let lawns "fade to gold for the summer."
California is in the fourth year of a catastrophic drought that
has led the state to issue a series of steps to reduce water
consumption, including the first-ever mandatory cutbacks in
urban water use.
Starting this week, California parks will no longer offer
showers for people to wash sand and salt from their bodies at
the beach.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Paul Tait)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](column_spacer.png) |
|