Water use goes down

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu water board officials say the public is responding well to their request to reduce demand on O'ahu's shrinking wells.

Water use during the first few days of voluntary rationing declined, according to statistics released yesterday by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.

"We think that people are trying to make an effort, and we are encouraged by that," said water board spokeswoman Denise DeCosta.

Consumption for the week of July 31 to Aug. 6 averaged 171.78 million gallons a day. That period includes four days in which the public had a chance to respond to a water board request Aug. 2 for cutbacks.

The all-time high consumption period was set this year at the beginning of June at 180 million gallons per day, a rate that the water levels and equipment cannot sustain said water board manager and chief engineer Cliff Jamile.

Jamile said the five-year average for July water use is 165 million gallons per day. But this summer consumers have been using more water because of the drought.

So while the most recent figures are still above average, they show consumers have cut back.

"To have the water use go down is not bad," DeCosta said. "It means we are moving in the right direction."

The board has asked residents to restrict lawn and garden watering to Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. City parks have cut their water use.

Top water users such as the Chevron plant in Campbell Industrial Park and Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay have taken measures to decrease their demand.

Five years of drought and several months of rising use lowered well levels and prompted the request on Aug. 2 for cutbacks. The water board is hoping for a

10 percent reduction in use and if it doesn't see that, may impose mandatory water restrictions.

During the past five weeks, the best week was July 24 to 30. Heavy rains that week reduced consumer demand, and water use averaged 167.44 million gallons a day.

But that heavy rain at the end of July was not enough to replenish O'ahu's aquifers, which require steady, moderate rainfall nightly. The water board does not expect normal rainfall to resume until the fall.

Water levels measured in the Honolulu District — Moanalua to Hawai'i Kai — dropped 2.39 feet when compared with May 2002.

"The demand directly affects the water levels," DeCosta said. "The faster you pump, the faster the water table goes down. But it takes longer to recover."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.