JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Honolulu Board of Water Supply crews worked to repair a water main break at the intersection of Kuhio and Kalakaua avenues in Waikiki on April 27. The break caused a complete shutdown of Kalakaua Avenue.
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The announcement that the Board of Water Supply will increase rates by as much as 63% by 2028 for the average residential customer leaves one to wonder (“Water board adopts over 50% rate hike,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 28). Does the average ratepayer know who these folks are who serve on this board? Do we know their backgrounds, or their ability to question in detail the board’s chief engineer, Ernie Lau, and make a wise decision?
How can we be reassured that this will result in the best water supply system for all this money? Will this money decrease the nearly 300 water main breaks a year on Oahu that snarl traffic and cause us to be late? Will this money enable the board to repair water mains that are gradually being inundated by rising sea levels, making many future water main breaks unrepairable by the board’s own reckoning?
The poor ratepayers have no answers to these and other questions, but once again must dig deep and watch life become ever more unaffordable in “paradise.”
Dale Jensen
Kailua
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