Villaraigosa has spoken out for water conservation, but municipal records show that he has been contributing to the problem. The soon-to-be-divorced mayor used more than twice the average at his Mount Washington neighborhood.

Los Angeles city councilman Tony Cardenas also showed up in the Los Angeles Times review. His excuse: his Labrador retriever chewed off his sprinkler nozzles, he told the paper.

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Villaraigosa blamed his comparatively high water use on gophers that chewed holes through a rubberized drip-irrigation system installed beneath his hillside backyard to protect against erosion and to ostensibly save water.

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But records show that the mayor and several other top city officials have been heavy water users for several years.

It's not the first time a politician has been caught over-watering. Last summer, a small scandal erupted when the London Daily Mail published photos of Member of Parliament Geoffrey Robinson soaking his property during a nationwide drought.