Developers of the Kalaeloa surf park and the state are facing a lawsuit over plans to siphon 7 million gallons of fresh water from a local aquifer to fill a 5-acre wave pool. Honokea Kalaeloa said it will disinfect the used pool water — through a complex system of filtration, ozone treatment, chlorination and dechlorination — before injecting it back into a non-potable aquifer.

It’s an innovative plan whose success or failure hinges on correct and consistent application of the proposed cleaning technologies. After the Red Hill fuel disaster in 2021 — and with recent drought warnings — Oahu is particularly solicitous about its finite water resources.