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Question: My nonprofit leases a small office space in a large, 25-story office building in Honolulu. We have a small office and no sink. Every floor in the building has drinking fountains and restrooms. Recently, one of the units on our floor was being renovated, and the builders removed the drinking fountain. When we asked the landlord about the drinking fountain, the landlord said that they were removing all drinking fountains as they renovated the building. Is this consistent with building codes? The bathrooms are heavily used on our floor (we have a call center), and I don’t feel that it is sanitary to ask our employees to use the bathroom faucet to get their drinking water.
Answer: No, removing all drinking fountains from a commercial building isn’t allowed, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting.
Honolulu County follows the International Building Code (2006), which in Chapter 29 specifies that commercial buildings (occupancy code B) must have one drinking fountain for every 100 occupants.
DPP said it has followed up on your complaint, confirmed that renovation design plans were flawed and informed the property owner that the errors must be corrected. This would include revising the design plans to reflect the appropriate number of drinking fountains and replacing any required ones that have already been removed, according to DPP.
Other renovations can continue during this period, as building permits were previously approved for the work. DPP said permits had been issued after a third-party review that apparently overlooked the drinking fountain requirement.
Kokua Line also called and emailed the landlord but did not hear back by deadline.
The IBC’s Chapter 29 spells out minimum plumbing requirements for numerous types of buildings, which are classified by occupancy. As we said, office buildings must have one drinking fountain per 100 occupants, the same as schools, hospitals and prisons. Movie theaters, restaurants and museums need one per 500, while churches, stadiums and airport terminals need one drinking fountain per 1,000.
Mahalo
A belated mahalo to Kapua, who blessed my 98-year-old mom and me by paying for our lunch at Ninja Sushi in Mililani Town Center right before Christmas. Kapua kindly held the door open for us as my mother entered the restaurant with her walker, and when we got to the front of the line to order, she turned around and said she wanted to bless us by paying for our meal. I was surprised and so happy to know there are truly wonderful, generous and kind people in this world, especially in these troubling times. We felt truly blessed by our Christmas angel. — Ann M.
Mahalo
Mahalo to the strangers who were so helpful when my partner lost his rental car keys while snorkeling at Kahe Beach on Monday. His elation at seeing a sea turtle quickly turned to dismay when he realized his keys had drifted out of his trunks and were now probably heading toward the Pacific Garbage Patch. An Uber driver made various phone calls on our behalf. While we were pacing and waiting for the tow truck, a woman came running toward us with the keys! She had spotted them while snorkeling, and handed them over to my astonished partner. We barely had a chance to say thank you before she ran off with a wave and a big grin. Another young man used his phone to cancel the tow truck, inform the rental car company, etc., on our behalf. Thank you to these lovely people, and I hope they reap the rewards of their good karma! — Evelyn L.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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