Voluntary water cutbacks bring results in first week

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Residential water use on O'ahu under voluntary restrictions continues to decline, but it is still too early to tell if the Honolulu Board of Water Supply will need to impose mandatory cutbacks.

Water use for Aug. 7 to Wednesday — the first full week of the voluntary program — averaged 168.92 million gallons per day, the board announced yesterday. That was down slightly from the previous week when the average was 171.78 million gallons per day.

By asking people to restrict lawn watering to Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the board hopes to reduce water use to about 162 million gallons per day — a 10 percent reduction from the all-time high of 180 million gallons per day, reached earlier this summer.

The voluntary program also has generated a large number of calls from O'ahu residents finking on neighbors who haven't gotten the message.

"They call them water weenies," said Denise DeCosta, water board spokeswoman. "Every summer, the number of complaints are always higher — but once we came out with the news conference when we asked for the public's kokua, there was a tremendous increase in the number of calls."

In DeCosta's community relations department, one of two agencies that field complaints from the public, calls went from about 50 a day to 100 a day, she said.

"I think the public is very concerned," DeCosta said. "If they see someone who is ignoring the recommended irrigation days, people are concerned enough to let us know."

The board will call or write to the alleged "water weenies" and ask for help in cutting use, DeCosta said.

"It is still a voluntary thing," she said. "We are trying to get people to go with the flow so we can avoid having to do mandatory restrictions. We would rather not have to do that."

Hawai'i has been in a drought for nearly five years. As water use climbed, well levels dropped, prompting the water board's request for voluntary cutbacks.

"So far we are seeing good responses," said engineer Barry Usagawa, water resources principal executive for the board. "I think it is working and it is a very good sign. And we want to thank people for that."

It is too early, though, to know if the board will need to put mandatory water restrictions in place, Usagawa said. A decision would likely be made later this month.

Mandatory restrictions were the worst-case scenario painted by the board when it asked the public to start cutting back on Aug. 3. The last time restrictions were made mandatory was December 1984.

Individual rate increases and water flow restrictors placed on lines leading into a person's home are just two ways the board could punish customers who did not abide by mandatory restrictions, Usagawa said.

"That's pretty severe," he said. "We are not close to this yet."

Usagawa, who's relieved that water use is declining, said the complaining public would become extremely demanding if mandatory restrictions were put in place.

It's a consequence the public needs to understand.

Not only will more people call to report on their neighbors, but they will expect immediate enforcement, he said.

"They expect someone to go out and cite them," he said.

Such a decision would put increased pressure on the water board, as well.

"If we don't enforce what we say, then people won't listen," he said. "There is no hammer."

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