Drought Busters

Southern California has long had a rocky relationship with water: To stay alive in this semi-arid piece of the planet, Angelenos have stolen it, plundered it and wasted it for nearly a hundred years now.

We've thrived off that wasted water, but now it's time to get serious. We're smack in the middle of the worst drought in thirty years and Southern Californians are fighting back. In Long Beach, citizens have gone on neighborhood watch, taking to the streets with cameras and posting videos of overindulgent sprinklers and water-wasting neighbors on YouTube. They're replacing those green lawns with drought-tolerant plants and keeping an eye on their watering habits.

Now, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is gearing up to make Los Angeles the next poster-child for water conservation. Starting in April, the city will restrict watering to two days a week and implement a new pricing plan for water customers, meaning those long showers, manicured lawns and overwatered tropical gardens could cost you. Angie Crouch reports on how Southern Californians are changing how they think about water.