Four Los Angeles city councilmen are pushing the city’s water agency to crack down on the largest guzzlers, while a volunteer “drought posse” is on the lookout for a Bel Air resident who used nearly 12 million gallons in a year.
Lance Williams
Reporter
Lance Williams is a former senior reporter for Reveal, focusing on money and politics. He has twice won journalism’s George Polk Award – for medical reporting while at The Center for Investigative Reporting, and for coverage of the BALCO sports steroid scandal while at the San Francisco Chronicle. With partner Mark Fainaru-Wada, Williams wrote the national bestseller “Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports.” In 2006, the reporting duo was held in contempt of court and threatened with 18 months in federal prison for refusing to testify about their confidential sources on the BALCO investigation. The subpoenas were later withdrawn. Williams’ reporting also has been honored with the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Edgar A. Poe Award; the Gerald Loeb Award for financial reporting; and the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment. He graduated from Brown University and UC Berkeley. He also worked at the San Francisco Examiner, the Oakland Tribune and the Daily Review in Hayward, California.
Secret super water users
If you didn’t know California was experiencing a historic drought, driving through the streets of Beverly Hills and Bel Air would only keep you in the dark. Some of the state’s biggest known water guzzlers live here.
The Wet Prince of Bel Air: Who is California’s biggest water guzzler?
One home in wealthy Bel Air, California, used an astonishing 11.8 million gallons of water in one year. The customer, whose identity has not been reve
California won’t identify who’s draining the state’s groundwater
A new law that attempts to preserve California’s precious groundwater comes with a catch: The state will hide the names of people draining this vast underground water source.
How naming and shaming water wasters helps conservation
When water agencies share data on their customers’ usage, and the public learns who the most egregious water wasters are, it generally leads to stronger conservation efforts. But a 1997 law means agencies are under no obligation to release this information.
To shield tech executives, California’s biggest water users are secret
In the midst of a historic drought, Californians have no way of knowing who’s guzzling the most water. That’s by design, thanks to an obscure 1997 measure that weakened one of the state’s chief open government laws.
Accused sports swindler claims he was helping law enforcement
Facing federal charges of wire fraud, racketeering and extortion, sports handicapper Adam Meyer is planning an unusual public authority defense.
Plastic bag lobby isn’t going down without a fight
Since 2010, plastic bag manufacturers have pumped about $6 million into donations and lobbying in California’s Capitol. That’s a measure of how eager the industry is to stop what would be the first statewide bag ban in the country.
The bill that could end secrecy around UC’s venture investments
The University of California has invested more than $200 million in private equity funds sold by two Silicon Valley venture capital firms. But for years, the firms haven’t provided UC with any information about how each individual investment is performing.
UC improves its investment returns but still lags behind other schools
The University of California’s $13.1 billion endowment produced better investment returns last year, according to new financial data. But despite a five-point gain over 2013, UC ranked seventh of the top 10 richest colleges in the U.S.