Palm Beach Water Offenders Now Pay the Price: Fines Take Precedence Over Warnings As Drought Deepens

By Maria Herrera, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Apr. 28–In the midst of a severe drought, Palm Beach County and many municipalities have stopped issuing warnings and are making nighttime sweeps and handing out hefty fines.

“This is a very serious drought the likes of which South Florida has never seen,” said South Florida Water Management District spokesman Jesus Rodriguez. “We need [municipalities] to stop issuing warnings.”

Most areas are under so-called Phase II restrictions that limit watering to two days a week, except for West Palm Beach, which went into Phase III on Thursday. Phase III limits watering to one day a week.

County, city and district code enforcement officers and water managers have beefed up enforcement with more citations, extended hours, night sweeps and monitoring data on each residential address’ water usage. They also hope large fines promote conservation and deter repeat offenders.

Palm Beach County toughened its enforcement Friday, no longer issuing warnings.

Of the county’s 33 code enforcement officers, 10 are focused on water restriction enforcement. They are also working overtime to respond to after-hours complaints, said Code Enforcement Director Terry Verner.

“From our feedback in the field, we said no more warnings,” Verner said. “It’s time to get serious.”

Most fines issued by cities run between $25 and $150 for first-time offenders. Repeat offenders face a $250 fine, a court appearance or, for the worst violators, having their water shut off, officials said.

In Boca Raton, code enforcement officials started conducting sweeps on random nights, said Michael Berkman, chief code administrator. Last week, the city wrote about 500 violations, he said.

To find violators, the city takes water flow data, looking for higher flow on days and hours when watering is prohibited. People also are turning in their neighbors. Most cities receive between 50 and 400 complaints per week.

The most common excuse given by water scofflaws: They don’t know how to work timers on the sprinklers, Berkman said. However, some are more creative.

“We found one guy washing his car with the garage door closed,” Berkman said. The water flowing under the door gave him away.

Some cities still give warnings.

Delray Beach has issued between 200 and 250 warnings since restrictions took effect April 4, said Al Berg, the city’s community improvement assistant director. The city has fined only about 30 residents because it wants to give time to adjust, he said.

“As the situation worsens we’ll be less lenient,” he said.

In West Palm Beach 48 citations have been issued since April 16 when the city stopped giving warnings.

“Most people understand the seriousness of the drought and just haven’t been aware of the timing [for watering],” said city spokesman Peter Robbins, adding that most of the $2,850 in fines have not been paid.

As an island, the town of Palm Beach has no wells and draws its water from West Palm Beach, and therefore is forced to comply with its strict restrictions. To date, Palm Beach police have issued four citations and 75 warnings.

Palm Beach Sgt. Fred Hess said: “It’s not so much that people are out and out defiant. It’s just that they have gardeners and paid staffs that take care of everything. These people don’t know how to adjust the timers on their sprinklers.”

Palm Beach is home to the county’s most conspicuous water consumers. According to the water utility, one oceanfront mansion on 4 acres uses 1 million gallons a month. The next two biggest residential users draw more than 10 million gallons a year. By comparison, the average county household uses 162,000 gallons a year.

Water managers say they can’t force municipalities to enforce water restrictions. They can only cite permitted water users such as golf courses, farmers and nurseries.

“We can only communicate to them the sense of urgency,” Rodriguez said. “Generally speaking, most [municipalities] are taking this to heart and are taking it seriously.”

Since water restrictions went into effect, the district has issued 38 citations with fines of up to $10,000 per offense per day. The money collected from district citations is sent to a state environmental fund.

Wellington and Boynton Beach have stopped giving warnings as well. The cities have issued 64 and 57 citations, respectively, in recent weeks.

In addition to working with police officers, who document the addresses of offenders during normal patrols, Boynton Beach’s code compliance division is also translating water restriction information into Creole and Spanish.

Verner, the county’s code enforcement director, said residents must make a choice:

“I don’t think the citizenry realizes we are getting to the point where you are going to have to make a decision. Do you want water to drink or to water your lawn?”

Staff Writers Erika Pesantes, Stephanie Horvath, Erika Slife, Dianna Cahn, Luis F. Perez and Sally Apgar contributed to this report.

Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6544.

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Copyright (c) 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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