Trump falsely claims that Beverly Hills prohibits residents from brushing their teeth and showering

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former US President Donald Trump creates stories on a surprising variety of topics. One of the strangest themes of his fiction is the household water regulations in the wealthy Los Angeles-area city of Beverly Hills, where he had his home.

“They’re notifying people in Beverly Hills, they can only use 40 gallons of water. They don’t have water.” said Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference this Saturday. After criticizing how the state of California manages its water, he added: “And it’s true: In Beverly Hills, you pay a fortune in taxes, they say you can only brush your teeth once a day.”

This was just Trump’s latest colorful story about alleged water restrictions in Beverly Hills. At the California Republican convention in September, he said: “The rich people of Beverly Hills, we don’t feel so bad for them, but I really do. They’re paying millions of dollars in taxes, they’re taking a shower, they’re being told to go away. Hurry up. , you’re only allowed a small amount of water when you shower. That’s why rich people in Beverly Hills, in general, don’t smell so good.”

That last sentence sounded like a joke and the audience laughed. But he delivered the part about supposed water regulations in Beverly Hills as if he were describing actual policy.

First the facts

All of Trump’s claims are false. Beverly Hills residents have no limits on indoor water use; It doesn’t restrict how many gallons of water they can use, how many times a day they can brush their teeth, or how long they can spend in the shower.

Beverly Hills limits watering to outside residents only, other rules keep it to a maximum of two days a week. The external limits are part of a statewide effort to conserve water and help address challenges related to recurring droughts amid a warming climate in California.

“We do not limit water use indoors, and we, along with many other cities across the state, continue to educate on best water practices,” Beverly Hills spokeswoman Lauren Santillana said in an email Saturday after Trump’s latest comments.

As for Trump’s claim that “you can only use 40 gallons of water” in Beverly Hills, he was likely referring to a law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 that established a state standard of 42 gallons per person for indoor residential water. Use till 2030. (A 2021 state report said average indoor residential water use was 48 gallons per person per day.) But contrary to Trump’s suggestion, that standard would apply to establishments that provide water to residents, not residents; The law will not force people to spend less time brushing their teeth or showering.

“Individual households don’t have to meet these standards…no one has to meet them individually,” said Heather Cooley, director of research at Water Resources, a California-based think tank that studies water issues.

Water providers can take a number of possible steps to meet the standards without forcing behavioral changes on residents, such as doing a better job of repairing leaks and encouraging residents to use more efficient appliances. And American household water use has already been declining for decades, in part because of government-mandated production efficiency standards and building efficiency regulations.