In the two years since the Navy’s Red Hill fuel spill contaminated water and sickened hundreds, the state and Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) have publicly maintained a united front, as they should, to champion the safety and availability of water for Oahu users. But now, it’s disconcerting to see cracks emerging — fissures that would not be in locals’ best interests with major decisions looming about disposition of the Red Hill facility and the need for sustained pressure on the military to pay for fallout from the water crisis.

On Dec. 1, four days after the BWS approved a 5.5-year increase in water rates ranging from 8% to 10% yearly, the state Department of Health (DOH) and Gov. Josh Green piped in, publicly declaring that the state had “secured” up to $75 million in federal funds and hinting that the BWS need not have sought such a hefty increase.

“The BWS’ decision to raise water rates by about 50% may create a hardship for many residents,” Green said in a DOH news release. “It’s important for the BWS to take advantage of available federal funding to reduce the costs it passes on to Oahu residents.”

No debate there. But what’s extremely puzzling is why the DOH and Green did not speak up sooner and make this information known before the BWS voted on the rate hikes. Putting the apparent squeeze on BWS after the fact is poorly timed, especially if it could have made a difference in easing the increases, which had been on the table for months.

DOH’s release said it had collaborated with the Environmental Protection Agency to secure up to $75 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to address emerging contaminants and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), known as “forever chemicals.” Replying to Star-Advertiser questions for this editorial, DOH clarified that it has $26 million in hand — and “should the BWS want to utilize this, DOH will apply for the remaining balance from 2024-2026.”

Somewhat of an oversell on finances, then.

But that didn’t stop DOH from suggesting at least three uses of the federal tranche to add 23 million gallons to Oahu’s water supply, including:

>> A treatment system to perhaps enable BWS to bring the Halawa Shaft back into service. BWS had closed this shaft after the November 2021 Red Hill fuel spill out of an abundance of caution.

>> Updating “the rusting Ewa Shaft treatment facility” that the DOH invested $12 million to build, from 2006 to 2016, to mitigate contaminants — a facility it claims was never brought online. The BWS declined to specifically address the facility, but did tell the Star-Advertiser the Ewa Shaft is not currently operational due to persistent bacteria levels. It’s working on new wells and a pumping station, to be connected to the treatment facility, to be online in 2027.

As for the DOH’s $75 million federal-funds offer, the BWS expressed general confusion.

“We are working on setting a meeting with DOH to discuss the funding as we have some questions,” a BWS spokeswoman told the Star-Advertiser. “We need to have these answered before we can engage in responding to any inquiries.”

Now it’s BWS’ turn to sound disingenuous.

DOH said that it has been advising BWS and eligible public water systems of the availability of BIL funding for emerging contaminants since securing the funds last year. But no formal requests came from BWS or others to secure funds for treatment purposes; BWS had expressed interest early this year in some funds to study PFAs treatment options, but no follow-up occurred.

These two agencies need to get on the same page. Both also need to be forthright: DOH must be real about how much federal funds is actually in hand, while BWS must be transparent in factoring in all funding options and not leave any federal dollars behind. If that means recalculating its estimates, to benefit consumers’ water rates, it must be candidly done.

“It would be our hope that any federal funding received by way of the EPA grants or BWS’ legal claims (against the Navy) would result in reconsideration of the rate increases,” the DOH said.

Totally agreed. DOH and BWS leaders must meet, hash this out and move forward, together, on these crucial water issues. We can’t afford to be working at cross purposes here.