Two weeks after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pointedly reminded all city agencies that they must toe the line on new water conservation measures, workers in Griffith Park were following an old routine: using an industrial-grade hose and countless gallons of water to wash down a row of public tennis courts.
As one man sloshed a layer of dirt forward, another squeegeed the excess water onto a walkway, then along a gutter to a ditch, where it spilled across a parking lot.
Officials couldn't say whether the water use on display last week at a picturesque Vermont Canyon complex has been common elsewhere in the city's network of 287 tennis courts.
"We are trying very hard to make sure it's not happening elsewhere," said Jane Kolb, a Department of Recreation and Parks spokeswoman.
But the scene highlighted the challenges that one of the city's largest agencies faces getting legions of frontline workers to drop habits that now can bring their departments citations and fines, just as they would for homeowners and businesses banned from hosing down dusty driveways.
Watching last week's cleaning ritual at Vermont Canyon was David Campbell, a retired resource economist and one of the regulars at the courts who said players had complained repeatedly about the wash-downs, which last hours and involve several courts at a time, every other week.
"It sets a bad example when the city is so flagrantly extravagant with water at the same time there are ads in the paper saying, 'Save. Don't Water,' " Campbell said.
Hosing off tennis courts is not allowed, and the procedures at Vermont Canyon have been changed, a parks department official told The Times when a reporter said the cleaning had been recorded on videotape. Times videos two weeks ago also showed water being sprayed on an asphalt driveway and sidewalks at other city locations during hours when residents doing the same thing could have faced fines.
Still, conflicting responses to the inquiries and differing interpretations of how Los Angeles' new "drought buster" law applies to city parks suggest that the City Hall bureaucracy -- like residents -- is still trying to fully understand and adapt to the mayor's ambitious water conservation plan.
Kolb placed the blame for the improper court washing on the workers.
"We had a couple of gardeners who weren't following directions," she said. "They were violating our rules."
