Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Conservation Category
Click here to view all posts

Water rationing falls short of EBMUD’s goal

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 3, 2008 at 6:00 am

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Nearly five months after an East Bay water district imposed the strictest water rationing plan in the Bay Area, the agency’s 1.3 million customers have cut back - but not quite as much as officials had hoped.

Savings across parts of Contra Costa and Alameda counties served by the East Bay Municipal Utility District have reached 11.3 percent, officials said Wednesday. Water managers had hoped fixed leaks, shorter showers, and less frequent lawn watering would net a 15 percent reduction.

With experts forecasting the third dry winter in a row, the district said the pressure is on. “There will be rain this weekend, but who knows for how many days, or how much rain will make it into our reservoirs - this weekend and this winter,” said Laura Luong, public information representative at the district. “Since we declared the drought May 13, (savings) started slow, but our customers are getting the message. We just need to remind them that they need to conserve for what’s to come.”

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

Mike Taugher explains the good and the bad of EBMUD’s system:

The Oakland-based district, which serves 1.3 million people in the East Bay, depends on a fairly isolated water system. It gets 95 percent of its water from aqueducts connected to the Mokelumne River in the Sierra Nevada.

The river’s watershed received very little snow or rain after mid-February, prompting district officials to forecast dangerously low reservoirs. The East Bay district is one of a few water agencies around the state that have imposed water rationing of some kind this year.

Although the district is vulnerable to droughts, it can also recover more quickly than other California water agencies. A single year of average rain and snow would refill the district’s reservoirs.

Read more from Mike Taugher by clicking here.

October 3, 2008 · Filed Under Conservation, Other Water Agencies

Comments

Leave a Reply