Water is the New Oil
Last December, I wrote a post about why I don’t wash my car. Seems like the news is getting worse for the Bay Area and the water shortage may be looming around the corner.
The record dry spell since February may require mandatory water rationing beginning as early as the next couple of weeks for Castro Valley and the 1.3 million customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.
Current data shows the Sierra snowpack that makes up the bulk of the district’s water supply is only yielding about half of what is normally expected in runoff.
Update: And then the dominoes start to fall
Peninsula residents may see their water and sewer rates creep upward in the next few years as the regional water agency funds billions of dollars in upgrades to the area’s aging infrastructure.
The Redwood City Council approved rate hikes for residents this week, and other cities may soon follow suit. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages the Hetch Hetchy reservoir serving four Bay Area counties, is expected to raise its wholesale water rates 7 percent to 10 percent in late May or early June.
Unfortunately, it seems like appeals for the general public to conserve falls on deaf ears. The fastest way to get the public to care and change is to hurt their pocketbooks. Although the official reasoning is for water system improvements, I bet the problems with supply may have helped in the decision.
