California Lottery Building Among Worst In State When It Comes To Wasting Water

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — From Gov. Jerry Brown on down, state leaders are telling Californians to cut back on water use, but one prominent state agency isn't conserving and is actually using a lot more water.

The new California Lottery building has been called a green building, but now the lottery commission is trying to explain why they've been wasting water.

The building is smart. There's no lawn that needs watering. Instead, deep wells in the ground collect rainwater to put back in the aquifer.

So with all of this to brag about, how is such a green building wasting so much water?

As Tammy Mattos waters her cactus on her only watering day of the week, she's irritated about more than having to cut back her water use by 30 percent.

"We're all out here suffering together, you're no different just because you're the government," she said.

New numbers compiled by the state department of general services show many state agencies wasting water.

The brand-new state-of-the-art and environmentally green California Lottery building is one culprit. It used 26 percent more water in 2014 than the year before.

Operations director Terry Murphy blames an irrigation leak that went unchecked for four months.

"We were losing a fair amount of water last April we fixed that," Murphy said.

Along with the lottery, the Department of Justice, CalSTRS, Cal Fire and even the Department of Veterans Affairs were all using more water.

Regulators with the State Water Resources Control Board who issued the water cutbacks chose not to comment on our story. But the board's demands are clear—it will fine water wasters.

Lottery officials eluded fines for last year's leak, but say they learned their lesson. They say the building is now saving 60 percent more water compared to the beginning of last year when the leak happened.