LIHU‘E — The county Department of Water could soon issue bonds to conduct more than $120 million in system replacements and expansions with an eye on the 2020 Plan put in place at the start of the decade, new Manager
LIHU‘E — The county Department of Water could soon issue bonds to conduct more than $120 million in system replacements and expansions with an eye on the 2020 Plan put in place at the start of the decade, new Manager and Chief Engineer David Craddick said Tuesday.
Among the projects being considered is a “horizontal bore” into Wai‘ale‘ale from a valley adjacent to the “Blue Hole” area mauka of Wailua, which could provide substantial water to the greater Lihu‘e area using gravity instead of electricity, Craddick said in an interview at his Lihu‘e office.
“Everything we can get out quickly, we should do,” Craddick said, noting that many projects to bring deficient systems up to standards and improve limited storage capacity and sources are already in the design phase and could conceivably be underway within a year.
The department “should take advantage of a slow construction market,” he said.
Craddick, who formerly worked on water systems in Maui County and in Guam and was appointed by the Board of Water Supply in May, said he had two lists of projects — line replacements on existing systems totaling some $64 million and expansions to those systems totaling some $62 million.
A bond issuance may end up in front of the County Council, but would not necessarily include all of the improvements immediately.
The Department of Water is in a unique position — it is part of the county government but because it generates its own revenue through water charges and doesn’t rely on taxes, it enjoys a certain level of autonomy.
“We’re a non-profit organization,” Craddick said, noting that all collected revenue that is not spent on salaries, electricity and routine maintenance goes into replacing and upgrading the water system.
The department is the largest user of electricity in the county, but an energy efficiency study recently discussed by the Cost Control Commission would likely not apply to the Department of Water, just as a similar decade-long contract that was authored in the 1990s did not.
Asked about the lack of government oversight of the department’s electricity purchases, Craddick said with a smile, “They do have full control. They just have to stop drinking water and the energy bill will go down.”
The department’s cost of power adjustment rate increased by 3 cents per 1,000 gallons on July 1. According to a June press release announcing the increase, $2.9 million, 17 percent of the department’s operating costs, was spent on energy last year. Water sales revenue totaled $17.2 million.
Also last month, the department sent out Water Quality Reports to users of each of the island’s 11 water systems. The reports contain information including water source, contaminant levels and compliance with drinking water rules. The reports were required by the federal Safe Water Drinking Act, according to a press release.
“Our goal is to provide the best water we can with the money we have,” Craddick said. “We don’t do a whole lot more than meeting EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) requirements, but even meeting EPA requirements is better than bottled water.”
Craddick and a half-dozen deputies, including two who conduct extensive testing on county water for biological and chemical contaminants, all said they drink tap water, not bottled water, at home. A water cooler was not seen in the office’s common area, but a water fountain was.
“Once you open bottled water, within 24 hours, you wouldn’t want to drink it,” Craddick said, adding that even carbon filters can do more harm than good if they are not changed regularly.
For more information, call the Department of Water at 245-5455 or visit www.kauaiwater.org.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com
