PD Editorial: Don't dismiss drought shaming

Nobody likes a tattletale. But the naa-naa-naa crowd, judiciously deployed, could play a useful role in ensuring California’s toilets continue to flush and its spigots don’t start sputtering dust.

Twitter, YouTube and other social media have been flooded in recent weeks with video and photographic tales of people squandering water amid the one of the state’s worst droughts in recorded history. The phenomenon has its own hashtag (#DroughtShaming) and apps (DroughtShame and VizSAFE). A new reality TV show is probably in development somewhere.

No one is immune from the water watchers. Backyard gardeners, condo owners, celebrities in Beverly Hills - all are getting their ration of grief if they’re not rationing water. Even the beloved Oprah Winfrey has been chastised for alleged gushing.

Critics of the public reprimands wisely warn that the shaming could turn ugly and counterproductive, pitting neighbor against neighbor and provoking the shamed to sprinkle their lawns with abandon in retaliation. And there’s always a risk that the Internet, that ever-reliable source of semi-reliable information, will be used by trolls or neighbors with a lingering grudge over the neighbor’s dog befouling their yard to malign the innocent with bogus “evidence.”

But conventional appeals for responsible water use certainly haven’t done the trick so far. In Rancho Santa Fe, consumption rose 9 percent after Gov. Jerry Brown called for California to cut their water use by 25 percent. One resident expressed an all-too-prevalent belief that “we’re not all equal when it comes to water.”

The habitually selfish will never be convinced that Californians are all in this together. As the drought grows more severe, so do the steps being taken to preserve water. Streams in Sonoma County are drying up, prompting state regulators to impose strict new limits on water use last week to try to prevent salmon and other fish from dying. Public water supplies are at risk, a fact that will become too terrible to ignore in an emergency. Think wildfire. Think earthquake.

Posting photos and videos can be a useful way to raise consciousness - and tip people off to what constitutes excess. Hard as it may be to believe, there are some people who may not be aware that their sprinklers are watering the sidewalk and the road.

Dan Estes, a Los Angeles real estate broker who created the free DroughtShame app, expresses a healthy attitude about using social media to spread the word about responsible water use. He says he’s not interested in confronting people. His app is used to collect info about wretched excess, which he then forwards to the appropriate conservation agency. Government officials can certainly use the help.

Among the those who benefited from Estes’ app was a preschool next to his apartment. The timer was off on its sprinkler, sending water flowing down the street. When notified, the preschool - where tattlers are no doubt discouraged from telling tales, responded by doing the right thing. Within 20 minutes, Estes has told reporters, the sprinklers were off.

Sometimes, maybe most times, that’s all it takes. It all adds up - one photo, one video, one polite “Hey, have you thought about …?” at a time.