A's exec Billy Beane among East Bay's biggest excess water users

[KamaAina]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_28976923/billy-beane-among-east-bays-biggest-water-users

The Oakland A's Billy Beane was among the highest water users in the East Bay during California's drought emergency this summer, trailing only a retired Chevron executive and a prominent venture capitalist.

Beane, the A's executive vice president of baseball operations, had the third-highest household total at 5,996 gallons per day, according to public records released Thursday by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The average district customer uses less than 250 gallons a day....

George Kirkland, of Danville, the retired oil executive, used 12,579 gallons of water per day -- about 50 times the district average

He was the largest user among 1,109 customers on a partial list of customers slapped with excess-use penalties for using more than 1,000 gallons of water per day.

[Cassiopeia]

1. It takes a lot of water to keep those estate lawns green.

CA should escalate charges for excess water use. I understand they already fine heavily, but if that doesn't work at controlling water use by the elite it should escalate to criminal charges that lead to jail time.

If that doesn't work, simply cut off their water.

[KamaAina]

2. New list of water hogs includes bankers, lawyers, former Warrior

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/New-list-of-water-hogs-includes-bankers-lawyers-6598735.php

A second list of the biggest water guzzlers in the East Bay was released Thursday, and it included titans of technology, construction, finance and the legal community, plus a former Golden State Warriors basketball player.

The list of 1,098 East Bay Municipal Utility District customers who sucked up more than their share of water during a 60-day billing period this summer is a who’s who of some of the richest people in the Bay Area — including Adonal Foyle of Orinda, who played center for the Warriors for 10 seasons and retired in 2010....

The list is a stark indication of the huge disparity in water use among the 1.3 million customers in 35 East Bay cities that receive water from the district, which has cut water use by 21 percent since Jan. 1. The district has three billing cycles for its 327,000 single-family residential customers.

Alamo and Danville appear to be the thirstiest cities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, along with the exclusive enclave of Diablo. Slurp central appears to be Blackhawk near Danville, an unnaturally lush, gated community full of sprawling multimillion-dollar mansions. The enormous green lawns, tropical plants and exotic trees surrounding the homes are in stark contrast to the adjacent hills, which are dry, brown and weedy.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Violators are charged $2 for every unit of water consumed over 80 during the billing cycle

Cripes, a unit is 100 cubic feet of water, and I'm allotted a whopping 14 units of water before penalties kick in.