If you think the occasional hosepipe ban in the UK is a problem, try living in California. The state is in its fourth year of drought – an unprecedented length of time without much rain. A whopping 94% of California is now classified as being in “severe drought” – increasingly turning the Golden State into a golden-brown state.
And no one is immune from the water-saving measures being implemented by state governor Jerry Brown, not even the glitteriest of the glitterati.
Kim Kardashian is among the homeowners to have received a letter from the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, with the water company urging her to drastically cut her water consumption.
Suggestions on how to do this include replacing her verdant lawns with artificial grass, succulent plants, or desert landscaping. Investigators will be going door to door next month to check such measures are being implemented.
Kim’s $20 million mansion, which she shares with hubby Kanye West and baby North, has eight bedrooms, three and a half acres of land, two spas, and a vineyard.
But she’s got no objection to cutting down on her H2O. A spokesman for the reality star told the New York Post: “Kim takes this drought seriously. She has no problem letting her grass go brown.”
Kim isn’t the first celeb to be pressured to save water. Last week saw aerial photographs of other stars’ lush lawns being published. One of those featured was Barbra Streisand’s Malibu estate. Since then she’s already said she’s cut her water usage by over 50% and “is going to take further steps to conserve water”.
Some Californians are already well ahead of the curve, taking to social media to shame neighbours who are literally splashing out on the wet stuff. Others have been taking more drastic steps, such as spray painting their dry lawns green.
Months into the drought mayhem, the aptly named Governor Brown is urging people to put all this into some perspective. ”It affects lawns. It affects how long people stay in the shower,” he said.
Time in the shower? Hold on – this sounds like exactly the kind of crisis an entire “drought special” of Keeping Up With The Kardashians might be based on.
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