Water Enforcement Pounding Sacramento Pavement Looking For Violators

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Workers went door-to-door reminding homeowners of new water restrictions passed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Steven Upton is on water watch, knocking on doors and letting people know about the new restrictions.

"We've got a few calls of watering going on in the neighborhood on non-watering days, it's kind of my job to check up on it," the water waste inspector said.

As reservoirs are dropping to historically low levels after the driest year on record, the Sacramento City Council approved a mandatory 20 percent reduction from its water customers.

That vote makes Steven's job that much more critical.

He spent Wednesday hanging notices on doors and checking up on a number of complaints of East Sacramento homeowners watering their lawns on weekdays.

Under the rules, lawns can't be watered more than once a week, and only on the weekends.

One home Steven visited got off with an official warning of violation.

"There's obvious signs of watering," he said. "There's puddles here, and puddles in the driveway."

The next time, they could be fined $50, and that escalates with each offense to as high as $1,000.