Editorial: Weigh all options on water supply

It’s not even mid-June, and it’s already hot, thirsty weather. Brush fires already have begun to char the state’s driest zones.

All of this is part of an annual pattern, and climate change is creating ever more parched summers. But this year, there is extra reason for worry.

The water contamination crisis arising from leaks at the Navy’s Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility has compelled the shutdown of three wells, potentially affecting the supply for much of urban Honolulu.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply has not yet ordered mandatory water restrictions, but unless its campaign urging voluntary conservation efforts has satisfactory results, compulsory curbs on water use could be imposed.

That’s been the assessment of its chief engineer, Ernie Lau. Even Gov. David Ige’s proposal to speed repairs for wells that are down for maintenance might not help in time to stave off emergency measures, Lau has said.

Oahu really must ramp up its conservation efforts, in the short term. And, if nothing else, the current conditions illuminate the need for contingency planning around water supply — including desalination projects to supplement the island’s freshwater resource.

Desalination, long discussed as a means of converting seawater for potable use, is a complicated issue, with environmental challenges to be resolved and some community resistance to be overcome. That’s been the experience in other cities where desalination plants have been developed, so it has to be viewed as a longer-range solution.

Long-range, but not out of sight. There have been exploratory projects on desalination technology, including a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to fund a solar-powered, deep-water desalination demonstration project in Kona. The Hawaii Sunshot Desalination Program has begun the process of securing permits, according to a presentation to lawmakers last session by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Here on Oahu, and possibly closer to realization, is the Kalaeloa Seawater Desalination Facility Project. The water board is preparing to issue a request for proposals for a $30 million plant, which would have the capacity to yield 1.7 million gallons a day, expandable to 5 MGD.

According to a posting on the agency website (boardofwatersupply.com/desal), it would be built on 20 acres the water board owns in Campbell Industrial Park.

The saltier brine from the extraction process will be injected into caprock which overlays the deep wells. Because of its density, it will sink and flow along the caprock until it exits to the deep ocean and is diluted, according to the water board, which completed its final environmental impact statement in 2008.

This project has been on the drawing board for too long — since 2005, when it was authorized by Congress.

At that time, the main concern was the anticipated growth on the Ewa plain: a 30% increase, between 2020 and 2030.

Now, we know, there are two more reasons for concern: accelerating climate change making rainfall less predictable at a minimum, and the Red Hill episode reminding everyone about environmental risks that cannot be ignored.

So there’s an urgent call to action for Oahu residents in particular, and it’s immediate. Conservation efforts must intensify, starting with the individual. Most suggestions are common sense, but visiting the website would be worthwhile for just about everyone (boardofwatersupply.com/7ways).

There is more to be done by larger-scale users as well. The hotel industry had taken steps to conserve even before the Red Hill incident, said Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association.

“These practices have included everything from public education campaigns to the installation of faucet aerators and low-flow fixtures across entire properties,” he said in a text reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser inquiry.

There’s still room to ramp up the overall campaign, as tourism continues to rebound. A water board spokesman said a project by a specific hotel company is in the works.

There are many more large-scale users of water to be reached through various Board of Water Supply incentive programs. In February, the agency expanded its “WaterSensible” rebates for the purchase of water-saving appliances, making them available to commercial businesses as well. That same month, it launched a “WaterWisdom” program to help multi-unit residential complexes conserve.

The city Department of Parks and Recreation has committed to exceeding the call for 10% water reductions. Other bulk users of water, such as golf courses, also should be urged to use nonpotable sources; many already do so.

Oahu can’t afford to wait until the situation becomes dire before recognizing the looming threat of water shortages. It demands rational actions in the present — and a concerted effort, through desalination and other technologies, to ensure the island water supply has a secure future.