Officials go with the flow

That is why Villaraigosa held a news conference in June, urging Angelenos to cut their water use by 10%. Speaking at a municipal golf course in the San Fernando Valley, the mayor said conservation was a top priority because high temperatures and record low rainfall had combined with an unusually small snowpack in the eastern Sierra Nevada, a key source of water for an increasingly thirsty city.

"Los Angeles needs to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm," Villaraigosa said then.

But DWP records show that Villaraigosa has been contributing to that storm. He and his family used 386,716 gallons of water at their Mount Washington home in the year before they moved to Getty House in October 2005, according to records and interviews. By contrast, typical property owners with similar-sized lots in that area used about 209,000 gallons.

Villaraigosa blamed his comparatively high water use at Mount Washington on gophers that chewed holes through a rubberized drip-irrigation system installed beneath his hillside backyard to protect against erosion and to ostensibly save water.

"We were unable to determine there was a leak. It's underground," he said. "We intended to conserve water by purchasing a drip water system."

Villaraigosa said he did not notice increases in his water bill because his wife handled that chore. "I didn't have access to those bills," he said.

When Villaraigosa moved into Getty House, the city-owned manor in Windsor Square already had a record as a water guzzler.

The 22,000-square-foot property, which includes a backyard fountain, a tennis court and lush landscaping, used nearly twice as much water as residential lots of similar size during the year before the mayor moved in.

After Villaraigosa arrived, Getty's water use rose to more than twice the volume of similar properties. Villaraigosa and his aides explained that the expansive house serves as a private residence and public venue and is regularly used for official city events that attract hundreds of visitors.

City officials said that low-flow toilets and showers were installed as part of an extensive restoration in the mid-1990s and that a high-tech irrigation system was added last month to conserve water.

Only five blocks from Getty House, Delgadillo has struggled unsuccessfully to curb water use at his 88-year-old home on a corner lot that is fringed with large trees, rosebushes and other lush greenery.