By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai‘i — Farmers and flower growers yesterday won major concessions from the Hawai‘i County Board of Water Supply, ending a three-month community debate over rate increases.
Agricultural users make up an estimated 2 percent of the island’s 34,000 water customers and use about 8 percent of the water distributed through the county system.
An across-the-board rate increase of 39 percent, implemented in two phases over five years starting in April, was proposed for all water users. Under the compromise approved yesterday, farmers will pay only the increases for the meter standby rates, which is a fixed fee regardless of amount used, and electrical pumping charges.
The net effect, said water department manager Milton Pavao, is that farmers will see their water bills rise about 3.7 percent annually. Meanwhile, residential and commercial customers will be subject to the 39 percent increase.
Pavao had said the increases were necessary to pay for development of new wells to replace spring-fed sources the county is being forced to abandon under federal Environmental Protection Agency rules. At the same time, the state has announced it will not finance new well development, and the water department is facing increased electrical costs for pumping.
Agriculture groups such as the Hawai‘i County Farm Bureau and the Hawai‘i Export Nursery Association lobbied hard against a rate increase, saying many farmers would be forced out of business. The farm groups were backed by Mayor Harry Kim, who twice appeared before the water board to explain his desire to help preserve farming on the Big Island.
The mayor did not attend yesterday’s water board meeting but later said he was pleased by the outcome. For many farmers, Kim said, the proposed rates "were unacceptable because of the affordability. Farmers should not pay domestic rates."
Diane Ley, representing the farm bureau, said the compromise ensures "a strong and vital sector of the Big Island economy."
The only nay votes were cast by water board Chairman Yukio Takeya and board member John Tolmie, who said the burden of new water source development should be shared fairly by all users.
Addressing another concern, board member Earl Nakashima urged the water department to develop a standardized format to determine who agricultural users are.
Nakashima was responding to recurring complaints of inconsistent handling of requests to qualify for farm rates and the fact that until recently, many farmers were denied that status because they were drawing water from five-eighths-inch residential lines instead of the larger supply sources which are not always available.
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