DWP gets set to hose down water wasters

Just hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a statewide drought, the DWP laid out a plan to ding water-wasting residents and business owners with pricey tickets, David Zahniser reports.

Under the plan, residents and business owners who hose down the driveway, wash their cars without a hose nozzle or run their lawn sprinklers between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. risk getting fined.

        The five-member DWP commission unanimously approved the package, which will prohibit restaurants from serving water unless customers specifically asked for it. The plan will allow residents to keep watering driveways and sidewalks if they use certain water-saving equipment, according to DWP spokesman Joe Ramallo.

        DWP officials said they expect to have as many as 18 "drought busters" to patrol neighborhoods, up from the estimate of roughly a dozen from earlier this week.

Next step: The LA City Council votes yea or nay.

--Veronique de Turenne