Peters on Water Use

While I’ve reported these stories about City Council President Scott Peters’ heavy water use at home, Peters has never directly commented on his reasons for using so much water at the same time he’s told others to conserve. His spokeswoman, Pam Hardy, has answered questions and rebuffed our multiple requests to speak to her boss.

Peters, who announced Monday that he is running for city attorney, spoke publicly for the first time about his high water consumption yesterday on KPBS’s These Days. Host Tom Fudge asked Peters:

A lot of people hear city officials calling on us to preserve water and they think people in your position should lead by example. Why do you use so much water?

Peters responded:

Fair enough. I would just say, my property is very large. I think you should know that. And it’s quite a bit larger than the average home. We did a water audit on it, because we are struggling with this, and we do want to do better. Most of the plants are drought-tolerant. We think we may have been over-watering them and we’re trying to cut back on that.

I think it’s a fair point. But I would just say we happen to have a large property and it does take a lot of water.

— ROB DAVIS