Residents urged to cut water use if power is shut off for wildfire safety

East Bay utility district set to install 29 backup generators to operate water tanks

If PG&E has to shut off power in the East Bay to prevent wildfires from igniting and burning homes, residents will be strongly urged to severely reduce their water use during the emergency.

That’s because their main water supplier, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, may have its power cut off, too, and be forced to rely on 29 emergency backup generators.

“We’re not throttling the water use,” Andrea Pook, a senior public information representative for the district, said Monday. “It’s just like when we had a drought — we’re just telling people to conserve, to restrict their water use, irrigation and indoor use.”

“We are doing all we can to maintain sufficient water and water pressure during these proactive power shutdowns,” district General Manager Alex Coate emphasized in a written statement. The district serves 1.4 million people in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has warned customers to prepare for planned power outages lasting two to five days in areas of extreme fire danger due to hot, arid and windy conditions.

Beginning Aug. 1, the utility district will begin installing the backup generators in Berkeley, Castro Valley, Crockett, Danville, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, Pinole and San Ramon.

The emergency equipment, which will be in place through the end of the fire season in November, is needed to maintain reliable water service to the East Bay and emergency responders.

“We too are customers of PG&E, and we need power to pump water to get it up to those reservoir tanks,” Pook said.

Pumping plants are integral links in the water distribution system because they convey water to neighborhood water tanks for daily use. The district’s water and wastewater treatment plants and some pumping plants have builtin backup power. An outage can affect pumping plants without backup power.

“While we can’t predict what will happen this fire season, we can — and must — prepare our facilities to fulfill our duty to customers,” said district board President Marguerite Young. “What we do now will save critical response time should we lose power.”

Staging equipment before an outage allows the district to maintain storage levels in neighborhood water tanks. This ensures water is available for firefighting and prevents depressurization of water pipelines.

Pook said the emergency equipment will be operated only during a planned power shutoff. At that time, customers will be strongly urged to turn off irrigation and reduce indoor water use.

Before a shutoff, the district recommends that customers store a minimum of 2 gallons of water per person per day and enough to last three to seven days. It also recommends clearing the property of vegetation.

The district is urging customers to check for shutoff updates at ebmud. com, as well as on social media, including @ebmud on Twitter, Nextdoor and Facebook. For more information on public safety power shutoffs, go to pge.com/wildfiresafety. For water emergencies, call the district at 866-403-2683.

Meanwhile, the Alameda County Water District is “committed to providing our customers with 24/7 service,” said spokeswoman Sharlene Gonzales. The district serves Fremont, Newark and Union City.

“We’re still prepared for any emergency with generators to keep our critical facilities operating,” she said in an email statement. “That said, any emergency has the potential to cause outages.”

Gonzales said Alameda County Water District customers should sign up for the district’s rapid alert notification system at acwd. org/emergency-preparedness and follow Twitter at @AlamedaCountyWD for emergency updates.

Matt Keller, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, said officials at the agency, which provides water to 1.9 million residents in Silicon Valley, plan to have a meeting today to map out details.

“We are currently assessing what fuel and equipment we have,” Keller said.

“We live in earthquake country, so we’re prepared for power outages. But with the length of what they are talking about, we’re trying to prepare for seven days of possible outages. What we do is really important. We can’t risk not having power for some length of time.”

According to PG&E spokesman Tom Guarino, residents would receive notice 48 hours before a power shutoff, and the notice would be repeated 24 hours before and then two hours before any shutoff. He said a shutoff could potentially last up to five days.