For the past 50 years, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has provided the San Francisco Bay area with a variety of water utility services. The utility continues to provide those services, but its primary focus today is on the drought crisis affecting California.

EBMUD takes the matter very seriously. It declared a stage 4 critical drought earlier this year and set a communitywide goal to reduce water use by 20 percent. To reach the goal, the agency adopted new water rules that affect all customers. “For customers, this means striving for 35 gallons per person per day indoors and following new water use rules,” the company says.

Strict Restrictions

The agency in April began enforcing the new water restrictions to ensure that all conservation measures are being taken. By the end of 2015, EBMUD projects that it will have 320,000 to 330,000 acre-feet of water in storage. The water restrictions include:

Limiting the frequency of outdoor watering to no more than two days per week with no runoff;

Limiting watering times to before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m.;

Prohibiting watering within 48 hours of measurable rainfall;

Prohibiting the watering of ornamental turf on public street medians and the washing of driveways and sidewalks except as needed for health and safety;

Fountains and decorative water features must be turned off unless the water is recirculated. 

There are rules and restrictions for businesses as well. For example, restaurants can only serve water to customers upon request. Hotels and motels must provide guests with the option of not having their linens washed daily.

Prior to implementation of the mandatory restrictions, the agency asked residents and businesses to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent, but consumption dropped by only 6 percent, according to the utility.

The company strongly encourages its customers to find additional ways to conserve. “Please keep looking for ways to conserve and check regularly for leaks,” EBMUD says. “Silent leaks are common and use a lot of water. Twenty percent is our communitywide goal. You may be able to save more or you may already be doing all you can to conserve indoors and out.”

EBMUD wants water conservation to be a way of life in the Bay area rather than a short-term response to a drought. The utility says the steps it has taken to achieve that goal are working. For instance, over the past 10 years, customers have reduced their water use by 20 percent.

East Bay residents felt the pain of severe mandatory water rationing in 1976. To prevent a similar situation from occurring, EBMUD says it invested in infrastructure over three decades to increase available water supplies. As a result, the region is better prepared to cope with a severe drought, it maintains.

Over the past 10 years, EBMUD invested $1 billion in additional water supplies, recycled water projects and conservation programs, according to the utility. “Today, thanks to ratepayer investment and customer conservation, EBMUD can handle short-term droughts better than in previous droughts,” the company says.

The company credits its partnerships with suppliers as a key reason for its ability to improve services and handle drought conditions. For example, EBMUD has worked closely with CST Industries Inc., a leader in manufacturing and constructing factory coated metal storage tanks, aluminum domes and specialty covers. 

Serving the Bay Area

Formed in 1923, EBMUD provides drinking water for 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Additionally, the district’s wastewater treatment facility protects the San Francisco Bay and serves approximately 650,000 customers.

The agency’s water system serves residents in a 331-square-mile area extending from Crockett on the north, southward to San Lorenzo – encompassing the major cities of Oakland and Berkeley – eastward from San Francisco to Walnut Creek, and south through the San Ramon Valley.

The wastewater system, meanwhile, covers an 88-square-mile area of Alameda and Contra Costa counties along the San Francisco Bay’s east shore including Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont and part of Richmond.

Wastewater is collected from homes and businesses through privately owned sewer laterals that feed into a network of city sewers. EBMUD’s interceptors carry the wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant in Oakland. Stormwater is collected through a separate community-owned system, the utility says. Treated wastewater is discharged into the San Francisco Bay.