Sparse Waimea gathering hears about rates, rebuild Kilauea’s turn for meeting The last of three community meetings this week on Water Plan 2020 is tonight at 6:30 at Kilauea Neighborhood Center. The Kaua’i County Council has scheduled a public hearing
Sparse Waimea gathering hears about rates, rebuild
Kilauea’s turn for
meeting
The last of three community meetings this week on Water Plan 2020
is tonight at 6:30 at Kilauea Neighborhood Center.
The Kaua’i County
Council has scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 24 on the water rate structure
proposed by the Water Department.
Additional information on the water plan
is available from the department at 245-5400 and through The Garden Island’s
Web site at www.kauaiworld.org
BY LESTER CHANG
TGI Staff
Writer
WAIMEA — A Kaua’i County Water Department plan to increase water
rates next July and in 2003 to help strengthen the island’s water system over
the next 20 years was expected to draw some opposition at a public meeting last
night.
There was none.
Four people who attended the meeting at Waimea
Neighborhood Center asked about the department’s Water Plan 2020, including
construction and the cost of the work.
The proposed rate increase is part
of the department’s $150 million plan to rebuild and replace aging
infrastructure, meet new government drinking water regulations and ensure a
reliable water supply for the future.
If the work is not done, possible
consequences range from unplanned water interruptions to public health and
safety concerns, said county water manager Ernest Lau.
If the Water Board
approves the first rate increase, owners of a typical three-bedroom home on
Kaua’i would pay a $60 bill every two months, up from $47, effective this July.
The figures are based on the consumption of 20,000 gallons. A second
rate increase also is proposed for July 2003.
Kekaha resident Bruce Pleas
last night voiced concern that retirees on fixed incomes who grow vegetables
and fruits in their backyards would not benefit from the plan if they were not
eligible for a lower agricultural rate that is in the plan.
To qualify for
the rate, they would have to show a general excise tax and meet other
requirements, said Paul Ganaden, a comptroller for the Water Department.
Officials appeared to be open to Pleas’ suggestions and concerns,
including:
l Having groundwater tests done before new wells are dug. Pleas
said three Kekaha Sugar Co. trucks have sat idle for 10 years in an area in
Kekaha where a well recently became operational.
“There are batteries on
the ground that are leaking. There is pollution. I question that,” he
said.
Lau said groundwater tests required by the state Department of
Health are done before a well is put in. Wells would not be installed where the
ground is contaminated, he added.
l Evaluate the impact the spraying of
Agent Orange, a defoliant, has had on areas near Waimea Canyon. The defoliant
was tested for use in the Vietnam War.
Lau said the Waimea Shaft — the
only well that might be near the area where Pleas said testing was done —
was closed in the mid-1990s after the state Department of Health determined
surface water had contaminated the water system.
l Use of plastic pipes
should be stopped because they contain chemicals that can break down into
dioxin and cause cancer, Pleas said.
Lau said heavy-duty plastic pipes
designed for drinking water systems will be installed in upcoming
projects.
l Pleas said water test results should be publicized. Lau
explained people can call the state health department office on Kaua’i or his
office to get the results.
Many of the problems that have plagued the water
system will be addressed through Water Plan 2020, said Lau.
The
multi-phase plan identifies 200 projects over the next 20 years.
Ed
Tschupp, deputy water engineer, said 12 of the 13 systems managed by the Water
Department either need more wells or new storage tanks.
One of the plan’s
biggest goals calls for the installation of 127 miles of new pipes, about the
distance between Kaua’i and Molokai, Tschupp said.
The overall work in
the plan will be broken down in three phases: From fiscal year 2001 to 2006,
involving $51 million; fiscal year 2007 to 2011, involving $38 million; and
fiscal year 2021, to the tune of $58 million, Tschupp said.
The
top-priority projects — 80 of them — will be tackled in the first five years.
They include new pipes, digging new wells and construction of new storage
tanks.
To finance the work, the Water Department is proposing two
incremental rate increases for water customers.
Currently, a homeowner pays
a $6 monthly service charge for a five-eighths-inch meter, while a hotel or
hospital pays $300 a month for an 8-inch meter.
Kaua’i customers also
currently pay a monthly service charge and a flat rate of $1.78 per 1,000
gallons.
Under the new plan, if approved, the homeowner would pay a $9
monthly charge beginning next July and $12 on July 1, 2003.
The proposal
also calls for raising the user charge rates to $2.10 per thousand gallons of
water, effective next July, and $2.76 per thousand gallons, effective July 1,
2003.
Agricultural water users currently pay $1.78 per thousand gallons
over 25,000 gallons and 60 cents per thousand in excess of 25,500
gallons.
Under the proposal, the same consumer would pay $2.10 per thousand
gallons under 25,000 gallons and $1.05 per thousand gallons over
25,000.
Lau said the Water Board supports the lower agricultural rates as a
way to encourage farming on Kaua’i, especially as more cane lands become
available.
The proposal also calls for the use of “block rates,” a
method to charge users more for more water consumption and to encourage water
conservation, Lau said. The system is used by the city and county of Honolulu,
Maui County and Big Island County. It’s never been used on Kaua’i.
Kaua’i
homeowners who use 20,000 gallons or less for two months would pay $2.10 per
thousand gallons.
If homeowners use between 20,000 and 40,000 gallons,
they would pay $2.40 per thousand gallons. If they use 50,000 gallons, they
would pay $3.40 per thousand gallons. The block rates would be higher for hotel
operators, hospitals and other businesses.
Water conservation would allow
the Water Department to make better use of its funds and resources and delay
construction of new projects until after 2020, according to Gregg Fujikawa,
project manager for the water plan.
“The water system needs to be in
operation not in the short term, but in the long term,” Lau said. “So we need
to operate it in a self-sustaining fashion, hence the plan, which is a road map
for the department.”
Lau has said the work must be done because more than
50 percent of Kaua’i’s water pipes are aging, rusting and need to be replaced.
Breaks or leaks in the system occur almost every day, he said.
Funding to
run the water system comes directly from fees the Water Department assesses
customers.
The department, founded in 1961, receives no county government
funds. Securing federal and state grants has gotten tougher, according to
Lau.
Many parts of the system have gone without extensive repairs due to a
decision by water officials in the 1980s to build more lines to accommodate
growth during that time of economic boom statewide. As a result, large-scale
maintenance projects were deferred.
But communities across the nation face
the same problem of aging water infrastructure, Lau said.
Staff writer
Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
