Millions Of Apartment Renters In California Could Be Forced To Pay For Water During State's Historic Drought
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Millions of apartment dwellers in California have been given a free ride when it comes to water, but now that water supplies are running low, those renters could have an added new expense.
The Ruiz family says the drought has them using less water in their apartment.
"My message is we need to save water," Jaime Ruiz said.
Water rates and penalties are rising as California goes into its fourth year of drought. Now, landlords are beginning to pass the cost on to renters who don't normally pay a water bill.
But, the Ruiz family doesn't think passing the buck to renters will solve California's crisis.
"I don't agree to force people to pay more to use water in general. Only the people who abuse the use of water," Ruiz said
Landlord Matthew Folner says that when renters are forced to pay their own water bill, the opposite could actually happen - they could stop conserving entirely.
"I think they're going to say, 'okay, if I'm paying that small amount, I'm going to use more of the water anyway," Folner said
That's because here in California many renters share a water meter with everyone in their building, meaning there's no way to know who is wasting, and who is conserving.
To fix that, legislators are looking into having new apartments attach a water meter to every unit.
That way, if the drought lasts another four years, we'll know which renters waste and which ones save.
