Songstress Guzzles Millions of Gallons of Water a Year

May 29, 2008 — -- Performing for years in the Vegas desert apparently hasn't taught diva Celine Dion much about water conservation.

Amid a worsening drought that's sucked Florida dry for the past two years, the pop legend used 6.5 million gallons of water last year at her home on Jupiter Island, Fla., according to a study done by the Palm Beach Post.

That's nearly 18,000 gallons of water a day, about 100 times more than the 170-gallons-per-day the average resident uses every day, according to the Florida-based U.S. Water Institute. Dion's annual water usage could fill more than 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

And she doesn't even live there.

A 9,800-square-foot home is under construction at the South Florida address. Dion's publicist did not return phone calls for comment.

Florida residents and national experts were appalled when Dion's high water use was reported in the Post.

"It's outrageous for an individual to be using that much water," said Wendy Graham, the director of the U.S. Water Institute. "Clearly, they either have a huge leak in their irrigation system or an outrageous landscaping regime."

For the past few years, according to Graham, Florida, along with much of the southeast United States, has experienced a water shortage due to increased population and record-low rainfall. In addition to causing a spike in water prices, the drought has created a tug of water in the northern part of Florida with neighboring Georgia, over water from Georgia's Lake Lanier.

"If we want to protect our ecosystem, we're certainly going to have to be more careful," Graham said. "Definitely, anything like 6 million gallons per year is way out there."

South Florida has a whole host of water-related issues. With miles of wetlands, including the Everglades, to protect, conserving water is more important than ever, according to Drew Martin, the Lake Worth, Fla.-based conservation chair for the Sierra Club in South Florida.

Experts estimate that at least 50 percent of Florida's water is used for landscaping. Martin says consumers need to return to using native plants, instead of water-guzzling plants that are popular.

"One of the big problems is with landscaping and the way it's done," Martin said. "This all begins with the landscaping company."