Here are sobering facts: Chris Tatum, the soon-to-retire head of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, relayed the latest travel study data to lawmakers, showing that more than one-third of travelers surveyed don’t plan to travel commercially until next year.

About 52.8% said they plan regional trips, with the average travel distance closer to 1,000 miles than anything approaching this point in the Pacific.

But interest in travel for leisure is rebounding more than for business, for one bit of good news.

Closing down large cesspools

Protecting Hawaii’s precious water resources is an ongoing battle, something that is underscored each time action is taken against cesspool violators. The most recent: $55,182 in penalties and enforcement actions on Kauai to close 16 pollution-causing large capacity cesspools (LCCs), 15 of them linked to the Hale Kupuna Elderly Housing Complex in Omao, Kauai.

The problem is statewide, of course. Cesspools discharge raw sewage into the ground, where disease- causing pathogens and harmful chemicals can contaminate groundwater and streams. Since the Environmental Protection Agency banned LCCs in 2005, more than 3,600 have been closed statewide, but many hundreds remain in operation. Ongoing battle.