Is it OK to water shame your neighbors during Seattle’s drought?

Cities in the Pacific Northwest are being asked to conserve water, but at least one homeowner in Woodinville isn’t paying the warnings much mind.

The region is currently in phase two of a water contingency plan and municipalities are asking people to voluntarily cut back water usage by 10 percent, because of the state’s drought.

“We are continually reevaluating where we ought to be, and that could include things like banning watering lawns. We are not there yet,” said Alex Chen, senior water quality engineer with the Seattle Public Utilities.

“If we have continued warm and dry conditions, what we will be looking at is going to our third stage in our water shortage contingency plan which is mandatory restrictions on water use,” he said.

It’s an issue that is on the mind of KIRO Radio’s Ron Upshaw.

Each morning, Upshaw walks by a home where, despite the warnings, the homeowners continue to water the lawn on a daily basis.

“I walk the dogs pretty early in the morning by their house, and [the homeowners] are, in essence, watering the pavement,” he explained.

There’s an indent near the driveway that gets about 1.5 inches of standing water on the pavement. Ron said he’s tempted to pound on their door at 7 a.m. and ask if they realize what they’re doing.

Though he hasn’t gone as far as confronting them face-to-face, Ron did post a picture of the water runoff on his Facebook page. He might be “water shaming” the homeowners.

“People jumped on my Twitter feed and on Facebook and they are pile driving these people, saying ‘come on!'” Ron said. “I think it’s a Woodinville thing, ‘we want our grass to be green.’ I just let my grass go, the grass is brown.”

If drought conditions get worse, cities such as Seattle, Tacoma and Everett will decide if water conservancy will become mandatory. Right now, it’s still too early to tell if those restrictions will be put in place.

The least Ron’s neighbors up in Woodinville could do is point their sprinklers in the right direction, instead of watering the sidewalk, he said.

There is a bright side: every time Ron walks his dogs past the house, they get a nice, cool drink.

Ron isn’t the only one annoyed by improper watering etiquette. University of Washington climatologist Cliff Mass offered a few tips for taking full advantage of your sprinkler &#8212 if you must.