The State - News from June 2, 1988

Mandatory water rationing started throughout the East Bay Municipal Utility District with a goal of reducing consumption by 25%. The plan is designed to cut excess use by increasing rates as consumption goes up. Water consumption last month was as much as 27% less than last May, a reduction that water officials attributed to a combination of cool weather and conservation. “I don’t think it’s all conservation,” district spokesman Gayle Montgomery said in Oakland. “Reaching our goal will be harder to do when the temperature goes up” this summer. Despite the savings, Montgomery and other district officials warn that with the rainy season over and reservoirs already near the perilous levels reached in the 1976-77 drought, conservation should remain foremost on the minds of water customers.