Nelson Peltz’s Water Problem

The Southeast is going through one of its worst droughts in history. But you wouldn’t know it from driving around Palm Beach.

There, the palatial estates are surrounded by emerald-green lawns, verdant hedges and lush flower gardens. And despite severe water restrictions, some of the estates there are still using millions of gallons of water a year.

Take Nelson Peltz. The wily corporate raider (pictured) is known for crusading against financial waste at publicly-listed companies. Yet as my print column reveals today, the water use at his 13-acre, oceanfront estate is anything but thrifty. He used about 21 million gallons over the past 12 months, which works out to an average of 57,000 gallons a day.

Just to put that in perspective, the average single-family household in southern Florida consumes about 54,000 gallons PER YEAR. In other words, Mr. Peltz’s place uses more water in a day than most homes use in a year.

To his credit, Mr. Peltz is cutting back. During the previous 12-month period he used 24 million gallons. And a spokesperson told me yesterday that Mr. Peltz is examining his water usage “with the intent of identifying ways to significantly lower consumption.”

Yet Mr. Peltz isn’t the only water guzzler. According to Palm Beach water records, NVR chairman Dwight Scar used about 15 million gallons over the past 12 months on his six acre spread. And James Clark, the Netscape founder, used about 3.4 million gallons. (Neither Mr. Schar nor Mr. Clark responded to requests for comment).

My column also reveals some of Palm Beach’s more famous water scofflaws. Private-equity king Steve Schwarzman and singer Jimmy Buffett were both fined $100 in August for unspecified water violations — probably watering after the alloted hours. (Though I doubt Mr. Schwarzman himself, hose in hand, was out dousing the gardenias past midnight.)

As Wealth Report readers know, I’m all for people spending money however they please. Mr. Peltz earned it, he has a right to buy a oceanfront big estate and run it as he pleases. But when he’s using more than a million gallons of water per month during one of the worst droughts in history, conspicuous consumption has gone too far.

Everyday residents in Florida are being asked to take shorter showers, leave their cars dirty and let their lawns turn brown. Yet their efforts look futile next to the daily floods that must occur at the Peltz place to keep up appearances.

We all know a yellow lawn can ruin a mansion’s majesty. But soaking up the equivalent of an entire lake for one house — during a drought — looks even worse.