Utility 'Drought Shames' The Wrong Consumers

Utility officials in California apologized last month after publicly accusing customers of using more water than they actually had consumed.

East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) uses what critics refer to as “drought shaming” policies: releasing the names of wasteful customers in order to embarrass consumers into conserving more water.

But this time, the utility released inaccurate numbers.

“California's only large water district that penalizes and publicly exposes people who use too much water goofed when it reported inflated figures for some customers. EBMUD officials said they are reexamining the lists that contained more than 4,200 names of customers that the agency said violated its limit. The names and the amount of water they used were distributed to the media,” the Contra Costa Times reported.

Some numbers listed by the utility “were off by 1,000 [gallons] or more. One retired woman was listed as using more than 5,000 gallons per day when the real number was just over 1,000,” Fox News reported. “In some cases, officials incorrectly reported average water usage over two months when it actually stretched over several months.”

The utility apologized for the mistake. “EBMUD acknowledged the oversight after [the Contra Costa Times] found the goof, and officials said it might take two weeks or more to determine exactly how many customers might not in fact be taking lengthy showers or overwatering their green lawns,” NBC Bay Area reported.

EBMUD Customer Service’s Sherri Hong apologized on behalf of the utility. "We apologize for that. This was an oversight on us," Hong said, per the report.

The utility is considering ways to improve the accuracy of the data it releases.

“Hong said EBMUD plans to add another column to reflect the exact billing cycle for each customer, with the next list set to come out in mid-February,” the report said.

John Coleman, an elected member of board of directors for the utility district, criticized the utility for the mistake. He had voted against exposing the names of water wasters before the policy was instituted.

"It's East Bay MUD that should be ashamed," Coleman told the Contra Costa Times. "If you're going to fine customers and shame them publicly, you should be as accurate as possible. The current system isn't fair."

For more on the California drought, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.