File under: Gross Abuse of Wealth

As if the average Joe didn't have enough reason to resent the massively wealthy...

From the Wall Street Journal Online:

The American Southeast has been suffering from one of its worst droughts in
years. But you wouldn't know it from looking at the emerald-green estates of
Palm Beach.

There, despite water restrictions and low reservoirs, lush lawns and
verdant hedges line the Florida island's biggest mansions, awaiting the start of
the annual winter "season" after Thanksgiving.

To keep their thirsty estates running over the summer and fall, Palm
Beachers have been more than willing to pay water surcharges and even fines. And
many have found a loophole in the local water rules, allowing them to spritz
more often if they pay up to plant new lawns and shrubs.

Consider Nelson Peltz. The investor and food magnate's oceanfront
estate, called Montsorrel, is among the island's biggest water consumers. His
13.8-acre spread, which combines two properties, used not quite 21 million
gallons of water over the past 12 months -- or about 57,000 gallons a day on
average -- at a cost of more than $50,000, according to records obtained from
the local water utility. That compares with 54,000 gallons a year for an average
single-family residence in Palm Beach, says Ken Rearden, assistant city
administrator of West Palm Beach. (West Palm Beach supplies Palm Beach's
water.)

'An Outrage'

To be sure, Mr. Peltz is cutting back: During the previous 12-month
period, he used 24 million gallons. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Peltz said water
usage at his Florida is estate is "under review with the intent of identifying
ways to significantly lower consumption."
Then there's Dwight Schar,
executive chairman of home builder NVR. His six-acre estate, with more than a
dozen bathrooms, guzzled 15.4 million gallons of water over the past 12 months.
A spokesman for Mr. Schar declined to comment.
WATER
GUZZLERS

Some Palm Beach estates use huge amounts of water despite
the city's restrictions. Chart shows gallons consumed in the 12 months ended
Oct. 1, 2007.

OWNER
SIZE OF PROPERTY
GALLONS USED
Nelson Peltz Investor
13.8 acres
20,863,216
Dwight Schar Executive chairman, home-builder
NVR
6 acres
12,155,000 3,253,052*
William L. Koch President, mining
concern Oxbow
7 acres
4,519,416 695,640**
James H. Clark Netscape
co-founder
5 acres
3,452,020
Sydell Miller Co-founder, Matrix
hair-care products
4 acres
1,032,240
*second property; **adjoining
property he owns

Palm Beach's water world highlights the drain on natural resources
caused by today's wealthy and their ever-bigger estates. Efforts by everyday
families to take shorter showers and let their lawns go brown are a drop in the
bucket compared with the water use of mansion owners -- even when they're
"conserving."

"It's an outrage that so much water is being used for single
residences," says Eric Draper, deputy director of Audubon of Florida, an
environmental group. "Our water supplies are at historically low levels and yet
you see these big homes with perfectly green lawns." Mr. Draper added that it's
"very difficult to tell Joe Homeowner to cut back on his water use if he knows
that in Palm Beach they're not cutting back at all."

While not as severe as Atlanta's drought, Florida's dry spell -- the
state has labeled it a "rainfall deficit" -- has forced locals to curb lawn
watering and caused Palm Beach to impose "Phase III" restrictions. Palm Beach's
main backup supply for water, Lake Okeechobee, is about five feet below desired
levels for this time of year, and weather experts predict more dry conditions in
the coming months.

The water rules, which border on the arcane, state that residents with
odd-numbered addresses can water their lawns and wash vehicles from 4 a.m. to 8
a.m. on Saturdays only. Residents with even-numbered addresses can do so during
those same hours on Sundays. The city recommends that lawns be watered for only
12 to 15 minutes during each four-hour watering period. Separately,
hand-watering with one hose and "an automatic shut-off nozzle" is allowed from 5
p.m. to 7 p.m. on people's regular watering day.

So how are wealthy Palm Beachers using so much
water?

The restrictions don't cap total water use, only the times of use --
and today's mansions have high-tech irrigation systems that can douse an entire
estate at once. Most wealthy residents say they are honoring the restrictions
and that their water usage, while large, is still within the rules. Many also
point out that they have reduced their water use since last year.

$100 Fines

An estate owned by William L. Koch, president of mining and energy
company Oxbow Corp., used about 3.9 million gallons over the past 12 months,
down from more than six million in the prior 12-month period. A spokesman for
Mr. Koch says he has "taken significant steps to reduce water usage" over the
past year and that "we follow all of the water restrictions and abide by the
law."

Still, many Palm Beachers seem happy to pay the 30% surcharge on
their water bill that is imposed when a resident consumes more than 6,000
gallons a month. Others are violating the Phase III restrictions and incurring
fines to keep their grounds green. The Palm Beach Police, whose officers hand
out water citations during their daily rounds, say that over the past three
months alone they've written 370 citations totaling $54,700. Singer Jimmy
Buffett, who owns a mansion in town, was fined $100 for unspecified water
violations, as was buyout king Stephen Schwarzman, according to city records. A
spokesman for Mr. Schwarzman said the Blackstone Group CEO wasn't available to
comment. A representative for Mr. Buffett didn't return a call.
Other Palm
Beach residents have found a loophole. According to the rules, residents who put
in "new landscaping" can water three days a week, instead of the usual one, for
30 days after the planting. Once that period ends, homeowners can plant yet
again -- and resume the thrice-a-week watering. That has led some Palm Beachers
to put in new trees, shrubs and turf -- often at a cost of tens of thousands of
dollars per residence -- just so they can run their irrigation systems more
frequently.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said he returned to Palm Beach
after the summer and found that he had the only brown lawn on the block. "When I
asked everyone how they were watering, they all said 'new plantings,' " he
said. "So that's the loophole. We're all just ripping out the old lawn and
shrubs and putting in new ones."

Write to Robert Frank at robert.frank@wsj.com