Most egregious of the morning, come on Winnetka! #droughtshaming pic.twitter.com/74E2t2hTEp
— DroughtShame (@DroughtShameApp) May 22, 2015
Enthusiasm for water conservation has only intensified as California's drought has dragged on and statewide water restrictions have gone into effect. It's manifested itself in many ways, from stink-eye at someone buying too many almonds in the grocery store to telling the media how disgusted you are at the too-lush, overly-green yards of celebrities. And then there's the good old fashioned droughtshaming: calling out the perceived guilty parties for sprinklers left on in the rain or hosed-down concrete—sometimes by naming businesses and sometimes by posting addresses—hoping to humiliate the offenders into compliance. NPR looked into the #droughtshaming phenomenon and found that just posting the address of a wanton water user is, as some probably guessed, not as effective as it might be satisfying.
The best thing to do, they say, is to use official city apps to report wasters: for LA, that can be done through 311 (the same service where you report graffiti or that couch gathering dust on the corner); Santa Monica has its own similar program called GO. These apps allow for the city agencies who enforce water regulations to crack down on water wasters. So these photos are nothing more than cautionary tales and reminders that someone is always watching where water is concerned. Says one Northeast LA resident who got snitched on by one of her neighbors, "I've been taking my watering can, believe it or not, and watering with my watering can. See everybody! I don't have my hose."
7218 Hillside Ave. near Runyon Cyn. All day, every day. #droughtshaming #CADrought #wastedwater @ericgarcetti pic.twitter.com/h7CeqBX33Q
— Kevin Kielty (@shakeskk) May 26, 2015
#LA has a #drought problem & people throwing away #water like it won't have an effect on them! pic.twitter.com/Ck9eB9vvZj
— DeniseVasquez (@DENISEVASQUEZ) May 24, 2015
1255 N Orange. #SavetheDropLA #droughtshaming @LAMayorsOffice @LADWP pic.twitter.com/JnB4vI1jG7
— LA Denizen (@LA_Denizen) May 19, 2015
Soto and Huntington Drive. Broken sprinklers. #droughtshaming #wastedwater pic.twitter.com/a5B2JJlGD4
— Patricia Perez (@2Latina) May 11, 2015
Speaking of #droughtshaming City Hall lawn looking awfully green and getting a lot of attention this morning. #dtla pic.twitter.com/sb5adiE1Yy
— sacha baumann (@Sacha_Baumann) May 26, 2015
#droughtshame on you, H2O Powerwash & Steam company from Burbank. It's raining & you're washing an ALLEY??! pic.twitter.com/9Xw4Z8Z56k
— BeBe Blazfemi™ (@BeBe_Blazfemi) May 8, 2015
Seeing BRIGHT green lawns in the middle of Los Angeles is really starting to make me ill. #droughtshaming pic.twitter.com/vLJTIGWqb9
— Lady Naturalist (@LadyNaturalist) May 19, 2015
PAN PACIFIC PARK crew watering the cement when we are in a drought... #droughtshaming @NBCLA @LADWP @JerryBrownGov pic.twitter.com/nuyWvIYKmy
— brittany (@britthaps) May 13, 2015
Here's a little #droughtshaming in Brentwood to start your Thursday. pic.twitter.com/WZQb4HD6C7
— Turf Terminators (@TurfTerminators) May 7, 2015
· In California, Technology Makes Droughtshaming Easier Than Ever [NPR]
· Kim and Kanye Neighbors Disgusted By Flower Freshness in Midst of Drought [Curbed LA]
· Mapping/Shaming the Most Water-Guzzling Places in SoCal [Curbed LA]
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