When Ernest Lau hears about a Kaua’i County worker using a hose to wash mud off a sidewalk at Lihu’e Civic Center, he doesn’t immediately look for someone to blame for the waste of water. Instead, he sees the incident
When Ernest Lau hears about a Kaua’i County worker using a hose to wash mud off a sidewalk at Lihu’e Civic Center, he doesn’t immediately look for someone to blame for the waste of water.
Instead, he sees the incident as an opportunity to educate someone, maybe even an entire public workforce, about the need to conserve water.
Lau, manager of the county’s Department of Water, feels the county must set the standard for water conservation on an island known for having one of the wettest spots on Earth at its center.
The county, like the thousands of other customers of the water department, doesn’t get its water for free. And the county Department of Public Works and wastewater division are two of the top 10 water users on the island.
Since they’re using public funds (taxpayer dollars) to buy water for county purposes, that’s all the more reason the county should be at the forefront of conservation efforts, Lau said.
The state Department of Transportation-operated Lihu’e Airport is the largest user of water on Kaua’i, followed by Wilcox Memorial Hospital, Hyatt Regency Kaua’i Resort and Spa, Kaua’i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, Kaua’i Lagoons, Kaua’i Coconut Coast Resort (the former Kaua’i BeachBoy), the two county entities mentioned above and Kaua’i Community Correctional Center, according to water department records.
All have some form of water conservation programs in place. Lau said hotel and correctional center representatives have been eager recipients of the department’s free conservation information.
Conservation is high on the list of priorities of the department, as chronicled in its Kaua’i Water Plan 2020, which has gotten lots of public attention because of recently enacted increases of water rates. But the department knows it is behind the eight-ball in replacing aging pipelines and storage systems, and installing new water sources to quench Kaua’i residents and visitors.
“We need to catch up,” said Lau, who six years ago took over the semi-autonomous department and its history of what he politely calls “deferred maintenance.”
For years, the underground system of water delivery was repaired piecemeal when things broke, with no one really ensuring the system doesn’t collapse from old age, if nothing else.
As a result, over $80 million is needed over the next 20 years, including $51 million between now and 2006, to replace water-carrying pipes dating back to the early 1920s through the 1960s. Some 127 miles of pipeline, which if stretched from end to end would run from Kaua’i to Moloka’i, needs to be replaced over the next two decades, officials say.
Most of the money to do the work must come from water fees. Besides the pipe replacement, around 100 other projects seen as necessary must be completed between now and 2021. Most, other than pipeline replacements, are new water sources and tanks.
The total cost of the 200-plus projects would be $150 million in today’s dollars. A combination of bonds, appropriations from the Legislature, and other sources are being sought to complement revenue from customers’ fees. No county general-fund revenues go to the water department.
A lion’s share of the required projects (70 of the 209, and expected to cost around $61.7 million) are in the island’s most populous areas – Puhi to Kapa’a.
But by no means is central Kaua’i the only area of concern, officials say. Of the island’s 13 existing water systems, 12 need additional sources or storage capacity.
Lau said the island should never run out of water, being the home to one of the wettest spots on earth, Mt. Wai’ale’ale, which gets between 400 and 600 inches of rain a year. The problem is the expense of tapping into that abundant resource.
The Native Hawaiians who inhabited the island long before any other arrivals knew that the island’s water was the source of all life here, and took great care to manage the rivers so that the island was self-sufficient. The same kind of care is needed to ensure clean drinking water for future generations, said Lau.
Besides its core responsibilities to replace aging pipelines and develop new sources of water for a growing population, the department also is taking steps to make sure its own house is in order, which means ensuring the department doesn’t waste water, either.
The department has requested proposals from three companies for a computerized, islandwide system to detect potential problems before they materialize. The system is expected to cost about $4 million. It will be able to detect the smallest of leaks, before they lead to major water main breaks which could disrupt service to an entire town or area.
A recent outage in Kilauea, for example, could possibly have been prevented, had this new technology been in place, according to officials.
Lau said he has asked the state Department of Agriculture to consider establishing an agricultural irrigation system in Kilauea, so farmers can stop watering crops with drinking water.
Recently, Honolulu Board of Water Supply leak detectors (people and equipment) arrived on Kaua’i to check the local water systems, Lau said.
Last year, the Kaua’i department responded to about 200 trouble calls, including water main breaks and problems with smaller pipes, said Ed Tschupp, deputy manager. The department maintains between 375 and 400 miles of pipeline, some which may be older than 80 years, he said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
