Attention, East Bay residents and businesses

EBMUD has introduced mandatory water rationing. I read the press release, and here are the salient points:

-- Single-family residential households are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 19%
-- Multi-family residential households are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 11%
-- Irrigators are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 30%
-- Commercial customers are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 12%
-- Institutional customers are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 9%
-- Industrial customers are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 5%

And the following will be prohibited:

-- Using water for decorative ponds, lakes and fountains, if those do not recycle the water
-- Washing vehicles with hoses that don't have shutoff nozzles
-- Washing sidewalks, patios and other hard surfaces
-- Irrigating outdoors on consecutive days
-- Irrigating outdoors more than three days a week
-- Lawn or garden watering that produces excess runoff

In addition, the EBMUD board will be discussing a drought rate hike at its July 8 meeting. This rate hike would work thusly:

-- The rates you pay for your water would go up 10%
-- Single-family residential customers will be asked to reduce their water consumption by 19%. The 19% reduction will be calculated by averaging the last three years' water use.
-- Customers who achieve the reduction see their rates drop. Customers who use more than 90% of their allotment get charged $2 for every unit of water (748 gallons) they use.
-- Customers who use less than 100 gallons of water daily are exempt from the rate increase and the surcharges.

*

On a personal note ... I need to get home and see how much water we're using every day. I am sort of freaking out over two things: how our average will be calculated, since at least one of the last three years includes the Year of the Bathroom Renovation, where we didn't shower at home for five months, and where we can possibly cut more usage.

We've already ripped out our lawn in favor of drought-tolerant planting. We're already saving drain runoff for watering the plants. The washing machine's a front-loader so it uses less water. We have a low-flow toilet, but I guess we're on to "If it's yellow, let it mellow ..." I'm thinking Navy showers may be next. I'm off to see what my typical water usage may be.

It's sort of nice to know that we're not the only people who are wondering where else to cut. Kelly Zito's piece for the SFChron covers some of the customers' concerns with an across-the-board cut:

Sandra Turnbull of Oakland said she takes fewer showers and has low-flow toilets, water-efficient appliances and climate-friendly plants. Forcing her to lop nearly 20 percent more from her water usage would be very difficult. What's more, she said, those who waste water will be asked to reduce by the same percentage - still leaving them with far more water.

-- "East Bay Begins Water Rationing," SFGate, May 14, 08

Comments

[Kerry]

The only time the whole not flushing thing becomes slightly embarrassing is when you have people over and they use the bathroom and you forget to do a spotcheck, but if all your friends live in the same area I'd think they'd understand.

[Lisa S.]

Lord, I hope so.

I went home and checked our bills last night. Over the past two years we've lived in the house, we've used an average of 90 gallons per day. So we have to reduce our consumption down to 73 gallons per day.

I'm hopeful that not having contractors around will reduce some of the water use -- this is the first time since we bought the house that we are NOT spending the summer with people tramping in and out all day. But I'm hoping even more strongly that cutting down the flushing and cutting back on laundry will help us eliminate that extra 17 gallons per day.

Wow, writing that out makes me feel like a real first-world pig, esp. since there are so many parts of the world where getting even a gallon of clean water daily isn't even possible.

[Kerry]

You will have to clean the toilet more often though--it does develop a bit of a stain. But that my be because I am a really big slob who lives in the land of overflowing water (The minute we sign the Great Lakes Water Compact, you all will have to come back because we have all the water! Revitalization! Ha ha!)

But hey--better than an outhouse, no?

[Lisa S.]

I tell you, I was seriously rethinking the outhouse for a moment there until I remembered how I was constitutionally incapable of using it for those serious moments when one really needs a bathroom with ventilation.

You're right, though -- letting the yellow mellow is better than trotting outside to use the human equivalent of a litter box.

[Bureinato]

If you do use about 90 gallons per day, then you should be ok.

-- Customers who use less than 100 gallons of water daily are exempt from the rate increase and the surcharges.

But yes, this does seem much harder for the folks who have been reducing their water usage all along, than on the folks who still water bluegrass.

[Lisa S.]

I think that means we're okay if rates go up, but if the robo-call I got yesterday is to be believed, I think we're still expected to cut back until then. It's not very clear.

I need my rep on the board to WRITE ME BACK and tell me what the dealio is.

[Becky]

I've been thinking about this a lot, and wondering what you would do if you just had a baby and intended to cloth diaper, or something. When water is scarce, how to you balance reusing things that need to be washed (cloth diapers, napkins, plastic containers, whatever) and thus using water, vs. using disposable things that don't cut into your water ration?

[Niki]

I'm glad to see you've written EBMUD about this ridiculous across-the-board reduction scheme. As a renter who's moved several times in the past 4 years (and whose current home was VACANT for one of the years preceding our current occupancy), I am completely stumped as to how to improve upon (or even to know) the water usage of prior tenants. And, of course, in line with your objection -- what if I'm already 'letting yellow mellow' and watching my laundry and gardening water consumption?

If this is going to be "rationing," shouldn't we get rations of water? X amount for a, b or c conditions? With some sort of provision whereby folks with newborn babies or other 'conditions' are given extra rations?

Grump.