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The 1976-1977 drought affected all levels of water use and management in Californiathe state, local agencies, and individual water users. All experienced difficulties in planning and in coping with the water shortages, and all were affected economically. As a water utility affected by the drought, the East Bay Municipal Utility Dist. (EBMUD) modified its operations and regulations in order to conserve water and to assure a continuing water supply. As background to EBMUD's water conservation program and its economic effects, a short description of the drought itself will be given here. A more complete discussion can be found in the February 1978 Journal.*

California's East Bay Munic. Utility Dist. (EBMUD), formed 50 years ago, serves a 286-sqmi area in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, including fifteen cities and fifteen unincorporated communities across the bay from San Francisco. The present population of the area is 1 093 000, with an average percapita consumption of 195 gpd. The principal source of water is the Mokelu ne River water shed, a 575-sqmi portion of the Sierra Nevada in Alpine, Amador, and Calaveras counties. Over the next five years, the district plans to average about $16 million annually in a substantial capital-improvement program. In recent years, EBMUD has integrated a new dimension environmental considerations into its programs, and there has been considerable progress from the first efforts to the present administration of the environmental-assessment process. EBMUD had always recognized the need for such "environmental" considerations as architecture and landscaping in its works, but formal requirements for environmental assessment have resulted in projects that are more compatible with their surroundings. Environmental assessment is now an integral part of EBMUD's planning-design-construction interrelationship.