1. Contact: Ted Wolter
July 14, 2015 Office 916-874-5491
SUPERVISOR MACGLASHAN LEADS BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS TO DECLARE MARIJUANA CULTIVATION
WATER WASTE
Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan proposed that the Board of Supervisors revise the Sacramento
County Water Agency Code to declare marijuana cultivation in violation of the Sacramento County Code
as a form of water waste today. The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed with her proposal.
“According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a single marijuana plant uses an
average of six gallons of water per day during the growing cycle,” MacGlashan said following the
hearing. “Just last week, the Sheriff’s Department removed almost 1,000 marijuana plants from an illegal
grow site in my district – representing close to 6,000 gallons per day in water use. This daily
consumption is approximately equivalent to 30 households in the same community, and these growers
had allegedly diverted a tributary of Dry Creek – a spawning ground for fall-run Chinook salmon – to
quench their illicit thirst.”
Roberta MacGlashan
SUPERVISOR, FOURTH DISTRICT
macglashanr@saccounty.net
Ted Wolter
Chief of Staff
woltert@saccounty.net
(916) 874-5491
FAX (916) 874-7593
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
700 H STREET, SUITE 2450 SACRAMENTO, CA 95814

2. In April, 2014, the Board of Supervisors unamimously adopted Sacramento County Code Chapter
6.88, prohibiting all outdoor cultivation, and in June the Board of Supervisors adopted Sacramento
County Code Chapter 6.89, prohibiting indoor cultivation of more than 9 plants.
“Given the severity of our drought, and the clear policy direction from the Board of Supervisors
that marijuana cultivation is impermissible in Sacramento County, it is essential to ensure that our limited
water resources are not wasted on illegal grow operations. Such consumption is neither reasonable nor
beneficial. I call on all water purveyors to follow the Board of Supervisors’ lead in protecting our region
from this waste” said MacGlashan.
MacGlashan’s language reads, “No person or persons shall use, or cause to be used, Agency
water . . . in violation of Chapter 6.88 or Chapter 6.89 of the Sacramento County Code. . . .”
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