Rich Californians Pretty Sure Water Restrictions Don't Apply to Them

By Hillary Crosley Coker | June 16, 2015 | 1:10am

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Rich Californians don’t seem to care much about the drought or the fact that their home state is drying into a crispy, brown plate of earth—they’re continuing to fill their swimming pools for their dogs and water their lawns with impunity. They’re special, because money told them so.

The Washington Post caught up with an entitled rich Californian named Steve Yuhas and let him rant about being wealthy and wanting a supple lawn upon which to golf. Struggle so real.

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People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently on social media. “We pay significant property taxes based on where we live,” he added in an interview. “And, no, we’re not all equal when it comes to water.”

Yuhas isn’t wrong—people in his Rancho Sante Fe neighborhood use five times more water than the rest of the state. They’re breaking the rules set by Governor Jerry Brown, who mandated a 25 percent reduction in water usage: Yuhas and his Rancho Sante Fe community’s water usage increased by 9 percent.

But on July 1, Cali will begin seriously limiting Rancho Santa Fe’s water, rationing each family a certain amount and financially penalizing them or even cutting them off if they go over their allotment. This is why Yuhas and his neighbors like Gay Butler, an interior designer who gave her interview atop a horse, are pissed.

“I think we’re being overly penalized, and we’re certainly being overly scrutinized by the world,” said Gay Butler, an interior designer out for a trail ride on her show horse, Bear. She said her water bill averages about $800 a month.

“It angers me because people aren’t looking at the overall picture,” Butler said. “What are we supposed to do, just have dirt around our house on four acres?”

My god, how will these rich people like golfer Phil Mickelson, who also lives in Rancho Sante Fe, survive “the war on suburbia” and “drought-shaming,” a term Yuhas created?

Also, this quote:

“I’m a conservative, so this is strange, but I defend Barbra Streisand’s right to have a green lawn,” said Yuhas, who splits his time between Rancho Santa Fe and Los Angeles. “When we bought, we didn’t plan on getting a place that looks like we’re living in an African savanna.”

Nice. Look, rich people, Califronia is in dire straits! Don’t be a terrible person by claiming that your coins should get you more of the dwindling water supply while the rest of the state is cutting back. It doesn’t matter what your parents told you. You are not special. No one is special during a drought.

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Image via Getty.