It’s an honor to serve our community by providing the basic sanitation services that keep our island healthy and thriving. Every day, our department’s nearly 800 wastewater employees work behind the scenes to collect, treat, and safely dispose of over 100 million gallons of sewage. We’ve worked hard to keep your sewer fees unchanged since 2016, but the truth is — with inflationary pressures and rising costs — we’ve reached a point where an increase is unavoidable.
I know the thought of increasing sewer fees feels like just another financial burden — especially for our kupuna, and for residents living on fixed incomes. Over the past few years, we’ve all felt the sting of rising costs, and our wages haven’t always kept pace. That’s why I want to be upfront with you about why these increases are necessary — and what we are doing to address equity and affordability.
Oahu’s wastewater system is not funded with property taxes, or any other tax-driven revenue sources — daily operations and maintenance, as well as system upgrades, must be paid with revenue from sewer fees. To keep the system running smoothly, and prevent even costlier problems down the road, there are more than 100 projects our department needs to construct between now and 2040, with a total cost of more than $10 billion. I don’t think many people realize that the funding needed for these sewer projects is nearly the same as Honolulu’s rail transit project.
One of the main drivers is the federal 2010 consent decree, which requires us to make critical upgrades to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant by 2035 — a single project that costs roughly $2.5 billion, the construction for which is already underway.
If our bill passes, sewer fees will increase by 9% each year for six years, starting in July 2025, followed by smaller increases of 8%, 7%, 6%, and 5%. I know that’s a lot, but the revenue generated will help ensure we comply with the federal mandate and keep our facilities — and your home’s plumbing system — running smoothly.
Affordability is very important to me, and we are going to address it in two ways.
First, we will be shifting, over time, how each property owner’s sewer bill is calculated. Under the current system, about 70% of the average bill is a fixed charge, over which residents have no control. We’re changing that, lowering the fixed rate to around 50% — with the rest depending on how much water you choose to use. Using less water will save more money on your sewer bills than it has in years past, and homeowners will still receive an automatic 20% credit for outdoor irrigation, since water used on your lawn does not impact Oahu’s wastewater system.
We are also creating a new Customer Assistance for Residential Environmental Services (CARES) program. This initiative will give qualifying households — those with annual incomes under 80% of the area median income (AMI) — a monthly credit between $20 and $25 toward the base charge on their sewer bills. This $10 million per year program will assist tens of thousands of lower-income customers who are most affected by the rising fees.
Like many of you, I wish that we could avoid these fee increases entirely, but they are necessary to maintain the safety, reliability, efficiency and future-readiness of our wastewater system. We are here to serve you, and we remain committed to managing the sewer fees with care and responsibility, as we have always done, to ensure a healthy, clean Oahu — for our keiki and future generations.
Roger Babcock is director of the city Department of Environmental Services.
