Editorial: Use less water now to avoid shortages

The water flowing beneath the surface in the islands’ aquifer systems affects everything up above. Nowhere more so than on Oahu, the state’s busy and congested gathering place.

That’s why Oahu fears a critical water shortage, and the pain it could cause, as tourism activity is expected to ramp up. What are all these people flooding back into the state going to drink and use?

That’s the present and immediate future, and the reason why serious conservation efforts in all sectors — tourism as well as residential — will be essential in the coming weeks and months.

What is also so concerning is that many developments considered key to the state’s economic recovery will require water commitments that managers of the resource are not prepared to make.

The central reason for concern about shortages is the shutdown of three key wells serving Oahu due to the still-unresolved water contamination crisis sparked by spills at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel storage facility. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) closed the wells to reduce the risk of water drawn from the wells causing the contamination to spread in the aquifer.

The longer-term ripple effects extend outward. Water shortages could curb advances toward needed affordable housing development and other improvements, such as Kakaako residential and commercial projects and a sewage treatment plant environmental refitting.

So officials are scrambling to assess the situation, and the public messaging from that is not in perfect alignment.

On Monday, Gov. David Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream show that his administration is exploring ways to speed the process of developing new wells without putting the aquifer in further jeopardy.

But Ige added that any lost water capacity also could be recovered more readily through accelerated repairs to existing wells that have been shut down for maintenance. That, he said, would restore more water than the more recent closure of three wells near Red Hill.

Meanwhile, Ernie Lau, water board manager and chief engineer, disputed Ige’s claim, adding that “we would like to see his numbers.”

Lau has been a forceful advocate for safeguarding the aquifer throughout the crisis, and he is right to take a conservative approach to the management of Oahu’s precious water supply. This is especially so under conditions in which the Navy’s subterranean tanks, poised a mere 100 feet above the aquifer, still contain the massive amounts of fuel that have been a threat for years.

Oahu’s water board and the state government must remain united to project the same level of urgency to the Navy: That threat to the public water resource must be eliminated.

That said, it is important that the governor — and Honolulu’s mayor, for that matter — also push solutions so that the worst economic impacts can be avoided. Step 1 is to head off mandatory water restrictions if that is possible, and Ige’s sound action in March was to call for a 10% cut in water usage by state facilities.

Such voluntary efforts are key, especially heading into the dry summer months. The BWS is calling for them in public service announcements, and everyone — including golf courses and high-volume water users across the tourism industry — must answer.

The BWS has been alerting developers that it may not sign off on water allocations for projects, including some that would supply needed housing.

The governor on Monday voiced support for giving affordable units the edge if shortages arise, and state and county agencies must follow through on that pledge. As Hawaii enters a period of water conservation, good management policies are crucial — and that starts with having the state’s priorities in the right place.