Smaller Water Bills Could Be Coming To East Bay Homeowners As Soon As May

OAKLAND (KCBS) -- Water officials in the Bay Area are hoping residents are still doing their part to conserve, despite recent rains, and if things keep going well there may be smaller bills as soon as May.

But, Felicia Marquez, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board says that just because it poured rain in Northern California, doesn't mean it's good news across the state.

"We got stuff up north, that was cold, that we were fearing we wouldn't get. But, the Colorado hasn't gotten the torrent of rain that we were expecting," Marquez said.

So, that means the board wants to wait to ease drought restrictions across the state.

"People are questioning when the drought surcharge will be lifted. That, for East Bay MUD services, we're gonna have our hearing to determine our drought stage on April 26^th," Nelsy Rodriguez of EBMUD said.

The Sierra snowpack is currently at 92 percent of its average, and the state's major reservoirs are at about 78 percent of capacity.

Drought