The East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD) is demanding that its million-plus customers conserve water, threatening financial penalties if they don't comply. But at the same time, the utility is wasting thousands of gallons of water each day, right down the drain.

As KTVU's John Sasaki reports from Lafayette, a drain pipe that runs off the Lafayette Aqueduct dumps water straight into a storm drain.

A nearby resident calls the leak "disturbing," but what's even more disturbing is how much water is being wasted. Apartment manager Mark Hurst decided to measure the amount of water going down the drain. He used a "five gallon bucket and a stopwatch. And we came up with 25-plus gallons a minute. That's 36,000 gallons a day."

Xavier Irias, EBMUD's Director of Engineering admits that's right. "It's actually slightly more than that, but yes, that's in the ballpark." EBMUD has known about the leak for decades. Irias says, "In a normal year, we actually have to release water. We end up at the end of the year with more water in our reservoirs than we actually need. We release it downstream. In a normal year it wouldn't make sense to be spending our ratepayers money on recapturing excess water."

But this is far from a normal year--EBMUD is demanding that customers conserve. The utility says a permanent repair of the aqueduct leak would cost $30 million, and cause major service disruptions.

Instead, the utility is installing a system for catching the water and pumping it back into the aqueduct. But, there's three other leaks in the aqueduct as well. All told, they're releasing 260,000 gallons of water per day. That's enough water to fill a pool that's 75 feet by 90 feet, and almost five feet deep.

Mark Hurst is disgusted. "It's a complete waste. It's a complete waste. And with the drought going on, they got to do something, and they got to do it fast."

Xavier Irias says the repairs will be done during the next several weeks.