Beverly Hills Fined for Not Conserving Enough Water in Drought

Upscale Beverly Hills is among four California cities where water utilities have been fined for not forcing residents to conserve enough water during California's unrelenting four-year drought, officials said on Friday.

The wealthy Los Angeles area municipality was fined $61,000 on Thursday, making it the only community not located in a desert singled out for penalties, the California State Water Resources Board said.

Californians are under orders from the water board and Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to cut water usage by 25 percent over the levels used in 2013. As a whole, the state has met that goal for four months running, regulators said on Friday.

But the Cities of Beverly Hills, Indio, Redlands and the Coachella Valley Water Districts have not met the standard, said Cris Carrigan, director of the water board's Office of Enforcement.