Nobody likes the idea of paying higher bills, including the one for water. But if, in the latter’s case, residents and businesses on Kaua’i can get what they pay for – a more dependable water system – then the money
Nobody likes the idea of paying higher bills, including the one for water. But if, in the latter’s case, residents and businesses on Kaua’i can get what they pay for – a more dependable water system – then the money is well-spent.
Out of sight and generally out of the public’s mind since being installed roughly 80 years ago, the water pipes maintained by the Kaua’i County Department of Water have slowly been falling apart. Many are deteriorated to the point they either leak or will eventually. More than 127 miles of the underground water lines need to be replaced within the next two decades, according to Department of Water officials who also say the water system needs more and improved storage facilities.
Now the sticker shock: The estimated total cost of upgrading the water system is $150 million, with $51 million earmarked for improvements in the first five years of a 20-year plan.
The Department of Water is supported by the monthly payments of water customers, the people who now are being asked to pay more for a better water-delivery system. Proposed new rates would take effect next July 1 if approved, and another rate increase is being considered for two years later.
With no tax support and no other local source of funding, the department has nowhere else to turn to for financial backing of the massive water system project, unless the county decides to shift money from other purposes. It’s unlikely that any other county programs want or can afford that.
The water department isn’t in the business of raising rates. Its job is to keep Kaua’i supplied with water, and the department is meeting its responsibility by addressing an issue that, while perhaps unpopular in terms of dollars and cents, makes perfect sense in every other way.
