The East Bay Municipal Utilities District credits customers doing their part to conserve and advanced planning for being able to deal with California's severe drought.
The utility is doing better than many others because more than a million customers have cut back more than 10 percent each month since February. In addition, a new $1 billion facility pumping water out of the Sacramento River.
EBMUD collaborated with Sacramento County to build the facility and save for the future. Construction was completed in 2010 and officials said this is the first year it has been put to use.
Officials said five billion gallons of water have already gone into local reservoirs.
"The truth is this is just year one for us in a drought," EBMUD spokesperson Abby Figueroa said. "If this goes on for two years, for three years, we definitely are going to have to ratchet things up and get tougher and ask our folks to do more conservation."
