Celebrities are being called out for having a negative impact on the environment lately. From excessive usage of their private jets to now using excessive amounts of water during a drought. Kim Kardashian, Kevin Hart and Sylvester Stallone are among those wasting water.
Per the LA Times, Southern California is struggling with the third year of drought and water restrictions. The celebrities were among more than 2,000 customers who recently were issued “notices of exceedance” by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, indicating that they had surpassed 150% of their monthly water budgets at least four times since the agency declared a drought emergency at the end of last year.
Now, their properties are subject to the installation of flow restrictor devices, which can reduce showers to a trickle and silence lawn sprinklers. “Customers are expected to adhere to the water use reductions and water conservation measures that are in place due to this emergency,” the notices read.
On June 1, severe “Stage 3” restrictions were imposed in an effort to achieve a 50% reduction in consumption due to a water shortage emergency. The rules limit outdoor watering to one day a week, with only eight minutes per station.
Among those who received notices of this in May and June included Kim Kardashian’s Hidden Hills home and its adjacent lot, which together exceeded their June budget by about 232,000 gallons. Meanwhile, older sister Kourtney’s nearby property exceeded its June budget by about 101,000 gallons. Kevin Hart’s 26-acre Calabasas property was on the list in June when it exceeded its budget by 117,000 gallons.
Sylvester Stallone’s Hidden Hills property used about 230,000 more gallons than its allocated budget — an increase from 195,000 excess gallons in May. In a statement provided to The Times, Stallone’s attorney Marty Singer said the numbers could “mischaracterize and misrepresent the situation regarding the water usage at my client’s property. They have more than 500 mature trees on the property, including innumerable fruit trees as well as pine trees. Absent adequate watering, in all likelihood they would die. That could result in dead or damaged trees falling on my client’s property or neighboring properties.”
The statement continued, “My client has been addressing the situation responsibly and proactively. They have let grasses die, and other areas are watered by a drip irrigation system. They also notified the city regarding the mature trees, and are awaiting an inspection and further instruction from the city about how to proceed. I am confident that all of the larger properties in the area have similar issues. I therefore trust that my client will not be unfairly singled out in the story because he is a famous person.”