Your attempt to find fault with Simi Valley officials for establishing irrigation-free days so that the entire community can brace itself for what may be a sustained drought is totally off base (“Water mandate goes too far,” Simi Valley Acorn , July 31).

Maligning the decisionmakers with “water dictatorship” and pulling out the “liberty-loving Americans” analogy is so farfetched as to be comical, but it isn’t because the water situation in the state is dire.

Instead of raising such a fuss about which days you can irrigate your water-guzzling lawn, you should be spending your time watching the water level gauge at the Metropolitan Water District website drop like a stone in a pond.

Wake up and smell the roses—we are in a drought and we live in a semiarid climatic zone. The Acorn should be ashamed of making statements that the new rules “in no way outweigh a citizen’s right to water their lawns on the days they see fit.”

Where is your sense of community, of sacrifice for the common good, of being part of the solution instead of being an it’sall-about-me whiner? Let me guess, you are the same folks who brush your teeth with the water running, haven’t checked your irrigation system for leaks, overspray and broken heads in years, and you hose down your driveway.

Why can’t the Acorn turn this situation around and make it a competition for Simi Valley residents to hoist up their bootstraps and show all other cities in the state that we can conserve not a mere 10 percent but 15 or 20.

Do a public service, Acorn , and feature stories on water conservation, provide information on how easy it is to install an automatic controller and what a great opportunity this is to take out your Kentucky bluegrass and put in beautiful, water-sipping plants. Alice Sterling Simi Valley