East Bay water district admits mistake on 'water waster' list
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The East Bay Municipal Utility District is apologizing to some of its customers, following a report that uncovered errors in the district's list of water use abusers.
They call it an error of omission, but now it is a case of shame on the shamers. It has to do with billing cycles. Some of the people on the list had longer billing cycles than others so it appears they used more water than others.
Sherri Hong from EBMUD's customer services department said, "We take customer privacy very seriously and it's not the intent of us to shame customers..."
WATCH VIDEO: New EBMUD list names water users exceeding daily use of 1,000 gallons
Though now, the shame is on them after EBMUD released a list of more than 4,200 customers who used excessive water and published the numbers. Now, we have learned that some of those numbers were excessively wrong or lacking context, the district said today.
Hong explained, "All the names are accurate. All customers that are on the list have exceeded our water use ordinance and have been assessed the penalty. What that list doesn't show is the time period of their billing."
EBMUD says it released the lists in accordance with state law, after media inquiries.
In Alamo, the property of St. Moritz Dorf topped the list for using 11,000 gallons of water a day. The district says any use beyond 1,000 is excessive. That list also showed Steven Burd, the former CEO of Safeway, averaging 7,200 gallons per day at his hilltop spread in Alamo.
WATCH VIDEO: 24 Hour fitness founder, Kristi Yamaguchi make EBMUD water waster list
And it included former Warrior player Adonal Foyle, who was already fixing a leak in the yard of his Orinda home. Why embarrass him and reveal his home address, he wanted to know.
Foyle said, "It is a breach. For me, my home address was posted on the internet. And to me, in terms of security and safety, that is a big deal. When you give a company your information, you expect it to be private."
"In accordance to the state law, we are required to release that information... with the address and everything," Hong said.
EBMUD is the only water district in the Bay Area to produce such a list. It plans another next month with apologies in between.
To learn how much water your city is required to cut back, click here.
For EBMUD customers billing questions about leaks and high bills click here.
For water rebate information from Bay Area water suppliers, click here. You'll find tips about how to conserve water here and information on how to to report water wasters #WhereYouLive, here.
For full coverage on the drought, click here.
