Oakland A’s Executive among top East Bay water users

The East Bay Municipal Utility District released the list of excessive water users yesterday in response to a public records request by the Tribune.

The A’s executive vice president of baseball operations – who is the subject of the book and film “Moneyball” – is third on the district’s list of highest water users.

Beane, a Danville resident, had the third-highest total of water use at 5,996 gallons per day, according to the compilation of EBMUD data released to a few media outlets Thursday.

“I certainly pay for it”, he said, adding that he has a large landscaped yard. That put Beane behind only a former Chevron executive and venture capitalist Mark Pine in his region. This year, EBMUD declared a Stage 4 critical drought and set a community-wide goal to reduce water use 20 percent compared to 2013.

The list shows excessive water use from September. So far in 2015, the EBMUD district has consumed about 31 percent less water than its 2013 average, roughly double the reduction ordered by the state and better than over 60 percent of other districts.

The Oakland Tribune reports that Beane, who lives in the East Bay town of Danville, uses water at a rate well above his neighbors in the wealthy Oakland suburb.

EBMUD officials said they are obliged to release the names because state laws require disclosure of information about customers who violate district rules and policies. His two-month bill for that use was about $8,546 – about $6,688 of regular charges and $1,858 in excess-use penalties. Meaning more names will be released in coming months, she said.

District spokeswoman Abby Figueroa said the district mailed notices before summer to warn customers with high use that they would be penalized if they failed to stay within the 1,000-gallon daily limit.