加州窮人節水仍受罰 富人安享水景豪宅

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. — Outside her two-story tract home in this working-class town, Debbie Alberts, a part-time food service worker, has torn out most of the lawn. She has given up daily showers and cut her family’s water use nearly in half, to just 178 gallons per person each day.

蘋果谷——戴比縠伯茨(Debbie Alberts)是一名兼職餐飲業服務人員，在她家位於工薪階層社區的兩層樓房屋之外，她已經把大部分的草皮剷掉了。艾伯茨不再每天洗澡，也將家庭成員的用水量減半，限制爲每人一天178加侖。

A little more than 100 miles west, a resident of the fashionable Los Angeles hills has been labeled “the Wet Prince of Bel Air” after drinking up more than 30,000 gallons of water each day — the equivalent of 400 toilet flushes each hour with two showers running constantly, with enough water left over to keep the lawn perfectly green.

在她家西邊100多英里處，洛杉磯周邊時尚的山丘上，有一位居民被譽爲“貝萊爾的水王子”，他每天使用超過3萬加侖（約110立方米）的水——相當於每小時衝400次馬桶、兩支蓮蓬頭不斷出水，剩下的水還能讓草坪保持完美翠綠。

Only one of them has been fined for excessive water use: Ms. Alberts.

兩戶人家中，只有一戶因爲過度用水而受罰：艾伯茨的家。

Four years into the worst drought in California’s recorded history, the contrast between the strict enforcement on Californians struggling to conserve and the unchecked profligacy in places like Bel Air has unleashed anger and indignation — among both the recipients of the fines, who feel helpless to avoid them, and other Californians who see the biggest water hogs getting off scot-free.

這場加州有歷史紀錄以來最嚴重的旱災已經持續到了第四年，政府對節約水資源的加州居民嚴格執法、但卻放縱貝萊爾(Bel Air)等地揮霍無度的人。收到罰單的人不知道如何避免受罰，因而感到無助，其他加州人則眼睜睜看着最浪費水的人免受處罰，兩相對比讓這些人醞釀出了怒氣和憤慨。

This wide disparity in enforcement is testimony to California’s vast and chaotic system for moving water from reservoirs and underground systems to homes. There are 411 separate water districts — some public, some private — and each of these local utilities has been charged with devising its own rules for saving water during the drought.

這種執法不公顯示出，加州將水從水庫或地下水系統，輸送到家庭中的供水系統不僅龐大，而且混亂。加州共有411個供水區，有些是公立的，有些是私立的，這些地方供水區都有責任在乾旱時期制定自己的節水規則。

All of the districts are grappling with a mandatory order from the State of California to reduce water consumption by up to 36 percent. The contrasting approaches taken by Apple Valley and Los Angeles illustrate how differently communities are enforcing the order — some with lenience, others with punishments.

所有供水區都因爲加州參議院(State of California)的一項命令而手忙腳亂，該命令要求他們減少36%的用水量。蘋果谷和洛杉磯的案例顯示出不同社區是如何執行命令的——有些手段寬鬆，有些嚴厲懲罰。

In Apple Valley, the private utility company that supplies water to most of this town in the high desert east of Los Angeles has been ordered to cut back 28 percent. The utility, Apple Valley Ranchos, responded by applying “drought surcharges” to households that exceed a standard monthly water allotment. Nearly a third of the 20,000 customers have been assessed fines, which can run to hundreds of dollars.

蘋果谷位於洛杉磯東部的高地荒漠上。爲該市大部分地區供水的那傢俬營公用事業公司接到命令，要減少28%的用水量。名爲蘋果谷蘭喬斯(Apple Valley Ranchos)的這家公司想出的應對措施是，對每月超出了用水限額的家庭，徵收“乾旱附加罰款”。在該公司的2萬用戶中，近三分之一被罰過款。罰款可能高達數百美元。

Ms. Alberts, whose husband is disabled and not working, supports them and their two children on an income of about $22,000 a year. She received a surcharge of $79.66 on her last two-month water bill, raising the total above $330.

艾伯茨的丈夫是殘疾人，沒有工作。她要用一年約爲2.2萬美元的收入，養活自己和丈夫及兩個孩子。在上一張每兩月寄送一次的水費單上，她收到了79.66美元的附加罰款。這使她家的罰款總金額超過了330美元。

“It’s impossible to get under the line,” said Ms. Alberts, 58, whose property is about half an acre and was once surrounded by greenery. “We wash clothes once a week. We flush every third time. Sometimes we go to the laundromat because we’re afraid.”

“不可能控制在標準線以下，”58歲的艾伯茨說。“我們一週洗一次衣服，每用三次馬桶衝一次水，有時候還會去自助洗衣店，因爲害怕水用超了。”她家的房子佔地約半英畝，周圍一度都是綠色植物。

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the city’s superrich have been able to keep multiple pools filled. Neighborhoods like Bel Air are verdant, as if the drought were happening somewhere else.

與此同時，在洛杉磯，超級富豪能夠讓多個游泳池裝得滿滿的。貝萊爾等地草木蔥翠，彷彿乾旱是發生在別的某個地方。

The top 10 residential water users in Los Angeles collectively used more than 80 million gallons of water in the year that ended April 1. The “Wet Prince” topped the list at 11.8 million gallons during that time — enough for about 90 typical California families — at an estimated cost of $90,000, as first reported by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting.

在4月1日結束的上一年裏，洛杉磯排名前十的居民用水大戶，合計用水量超過8000萬加侖水。如總部位於加州的調查報道中心(Center for Investigative Reporting)最先報道的那樣，在此期間，排在第一位的“水王子”的用水量是1180萬加侖——夠大約90個加州普通家庭使用——水費估計爲9萬美元。

But none of the city’s top water hogs have been fined. Instead, they have been insulated from financial penalties: Because less-affluent residents of Los Angeles have conserved, the city is easily meeting its 16 percent mandated reduction and has had no need to force its wealthiest residents to pare back. (Districts where average use was higher were ordered to cut more.)

但該市的用水大戶無一被罰款。因爲不那麼富裕的洛杉磯居民用水節約，該市輕輕鬆鬆就能完成用水量減少16%的命令，不用強迫極富裕的居民減少用水。（平均用水量較高的地區，削減幅度也更大。）

Though no names or addresses of Los Angeles water hogs have been released, it is easy to find homes where they might live: In Brentwood, one home listed for sale offers 12 bathrooms and a water slide that goes from inside the house to one of two pools. Another home under construction in Bel Air has been issued permits for five pools.

雖然相關機構沒有公佈洛杉磯用水大戶的姓名和住址，但很容易就能找到他們可能居住的住所：在布倫特伍德(Brentwood)，一個掛牌出售的房屋擁有12個衛生間；有一條水滑道從屋裏通往一座泳池，共有兩座泳池。貝萊爾地區的一所在建房屋，獲得了建造五座泳池的許可。

Maureen Levinson, a Bel Air resident, winced as she pointed out homes being built in her neighborhood with water features she likened to “moats.” “Someone has to say, ‘You can’t have five pools — you can have one pool,’” she said.

該地區居民莫琳·萊文森(Maureen Levinson)指着她所在社區的一些在建房屋搖頭嘆氣，她形容那些房屋附帶的水景彷彿是“護城壕”。她說，“需要有人指出，‘你不能建五座泳池，只能有一個’。”

Local newspapers have pressed the city to identify its top water users, as one San Francisco Bay Area district has done. One result: Famous residents have been shamed into using less water.

當地報紙要求該市公佈用水大戶的身份，就像舊金山灣區一樣。一個結果是：一些知名的居民因爲感到羞愧而減少了用水量。

Billy Beane, a minority owner and former general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, came third on the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s initial list of top water hogs in October, averaging 5,996 gallons a day, or nearly 25 times the district average. The top spot went to George Kirkland, a retired Chevron executive, at 12,578 gallons a day.

在東灣水務局(East Bay Municipal Utility District)列出的10月份用水大戶名單中，奧克蘭運動家(Oakland A’s)棒球隊少數股東、前總經理比利·比恩(Billy Beane)位列第三，平均每天使用5996加侖水，幾乎相當於該地區平均用水量的25倍。用水最多的是雪佛龍(Chevron)公司已經退休的高管喬治·柯克蘭(George Kirkland)，其用水量達到每天12578加侖。

Both men blamed leaky pipes, and cut back enough to stay off the subsequent list of top water users.

這兩人都埋怨管道漏水，爲了避免登上以後的用水大戶名單而大幅減少用水量。

Marty Adams, a senior assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said enforcing regulations in wealthy areas was more difficult than in poorer ones. “For a lot of people, accountants or landscapers pay the water bill, and they don’t even see it,” Mr. Adams added.

洛杉磯供水供電局(Los Angeles Department of Water and Power)總經理高級助理馬蒂·亞當斯(Marty Adams)表示，在富裕區域執行規定，比在貧窮區域更難。亞當斯還表示，“對於很多人來說，水費是會計或庭院設計師付的，他們甚至沒見過水費單。”

Los Angeles officials hope to start imposing fines so steep that even the wealthy who populate Bel Air will notice. Elsewhere, though, fines have already piled up on middle-class Californians.

洛杉磯的官員希望開始徵收高額罰款，以便引起聚居於貝萊爾的富人們的注意。但在其他地方，加州的中產階級已經收到大量罰款單。

The Central Valley city of Clovis, faced with an order to cut back 36 percent, has meted out more than 23,000 fines since the mandatory water reductions began in June. In Santa Cruz, where water supplies have run dangerously low, the city has assessed more than $1.6 million in penalties for using too much water.

位於中央谷地的克洛維斯市，接到了將用水量減少36%的命令，自從6月開始執行減少用水量的命令以來，該市已經開出了逾2.3萬張罰單。聖克魯茲的水供應量已經低到非常危險的水平，該市已經以用水過多爲由，徵收了逾160萬美元的罰款。

But perhaps nowhere have the fines been felt as sharply — or raised as much ire — as in Apple Valley, where the median household income is below $50,000 a year, a stark contrast to Bel Air.

但蘋果谷或許是罰款最多——或引發最多憤怒——的地區，該市家庭收入中位數爲每年不到5萬美元，這與貝萊爾形成鮮明對比。

“They have all this disposable income, and they’re not conserving at all,” said Barb Stanton, the mayor pro tem of Apple Valley. “We’re cutting back, and yet we’re being penalized. We have seniors on fixed incomes appealing to us — they don’t know how they’re going to pay their water bills.”

“他們有可觀的可支配收入，卻根本不節約用水，”蘋果谷臨時市長巴爾布·斯坦頓(Barb Stanton)說。“我們在減少用水，但我們卻遭到了處罰。那些年收入固定的老年人過來向我們求助，他們不知道該怎麼才能繳得起水費。”

Ms. Stanton was among those paying a drought surcharge, despite replacing her lawn with rocks. “How much more can I do?” she asked. “I let my trees die.”

儘管斯坦頓已經將草地改成石子地，她仍在繳納乾旱附加罰款。“我還能做什麼？”她問道。“我已經讓樹枯死了。”

Tony Penna, the general manager of Apple Valley Ranchos, said customers should be able to live comfortably within their allotments if they used water efficiently. The typical customer, he said, pays less than $70 a month for water.

蘋果谷蘭喬斯的總經理託尼·賓納(Tony Penna)表示，如果用戶們能夠有效用水，他們可以在不超過配額的情況下舒適地生活。他表示，普通用戶每月的水費不超過70美元。

“The idea it can’t be done, we’re not buying that,” Mr. Penna said. “When you see someone who’s got a bill of $200 or $400, many times it’s because their dedication to conservation isn’t as good.”

“有人覺得這不可能做到，我們不相信，”賓納說。“要是看到某人的水費達到200美元或400美元，那往往是因爲他們還是不夠節約。”