Makes no sense to me

80% of California is classified as being in an extreme drought. Yet, water use actually jumped one percent this May, compared to the same period last year. Then, you get the weird case of Laura Whitney and her husband, Michael Korte. They live in Glendale, part of Contra Costa, and  have been trying to conserve water by cutting back on lawn watering, taking shorter showers, and doing larger loads of laundry. Here's how their lawn looks.

Although the Water Board says that lawn care is typically the single biggest water user for the average property and a 500-square-foot lawn can use more than 18,000 gallons of water per year, they have decided to fine the couple as much as $500 for not keeping their lawn green.