California Utility May Ration Water to Refineries

(Bloomberg) — California’s East Bay Municipal Utility District is set to vote today on a proposal to ration water to customers near San Francisco, including two oil refiners, because of a drought.

A seven-member board will vote on the plan to reduce supplies to industrial customers by 5 percent, Charles Hardy, a utility spokesman, said in a telephone interview. Residential, commercial and irrigation customers would also be affected by the plan.

A vote for rationing would limit water supplies in the region for the first time since the draught of 1991 and 1992, Hardy said. Refineries use water to cool units that process oil into products including gasoline and diesel fuel.

“It’s pretty certain we are going to do something,” Hardy said. The vote is scheduled for a meeting at 1:15 p.m. local time today.

Bloomberg