Question: At least before the Board of Water Supply raised water rates, they had a bunch of community meetings where people could vent their concerns. This plan for the big sewer fee increase from the city came out of nowhere as far as I am concerned.

Answer: The city’s Department of Environmental Services has been conducting extensive public outreach for months, via an advisory group, neighborhood boards, the news media, social media, a website and town hall forums, one of which was held Nov. 18 at Kapolei Hale and five more of which are scheduled starting next week and into the new year. Here’s the upcoming schedule, from Markus Owens, an ENV spokesperson:

>> Tuesday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Oahu Room

>> Dec. 10 at Kailua District Park from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

>> Dec. 17 at Mililani District Park from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

>> Jan. 3 at Aina Haina Community Park from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

>> Jan. 6 at Kalanianaole Beach Park from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the craft room

At these forums the public will hear from ENV staff about the need to increase sewer rates for the first time since 2016, details of the 10-year plan to raise fees annually starting July 1, and about a proposed customer assistance program to ease the burden on low-income customers.

Under ENV’s proposal, sewer fees would rise 9% annually for the first six years, followed by increases of 8%, 7%, 6% and 5% the next four years, according to a news release, which said that “the additional revenue is critical to cover rising operational and maintenance costs and to fund essential projects included in ENV’s Capital Improvement Program, valued at $10.1 billion between 2025 and 2040.”

The monthly sewer bill for the average single-family household using 9,000 gallons a month would gradually rise from $110.89 now to $248.56 in 2035, according to ENV.

The proposed customer assistance program would cut $20 to $25 from the fixed sewer charge for households earning less than 80% of Oahu’s area median income.

Overall, the increases are less than predicted in 2010, when ENV entered a consent decree to upgrade Oahu’s wastewater systems, Owens said. At that time it was said that sewer fees likely would rise annually from 2010 through 2035 (they haven’t increased since 2016), by which time the average monthly household bill was projected to be at least $300 — $51.44 higher than now projected, he said.

For more details about the proposal, see www8.honolulu.gov/env/sewer-fee-rates.

As for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, it raised rates in February and July and will raise them again each July through 2028. See boardofwatersupply.com for details.

Q: How can that coral cut from the fish farm grow on its own?

A: A special marine epoxy is used to attach healthy, native coral heads to existing reef, allowing them to flourish, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The DLNR explained last week in a news release that nearly 11 years’ worth of coral growth was successfully removed and relocated from a fish farm pen off the island of Hawaii that was no longer in use.

The fish farm pipe ring had been in the ocean in 2013, and coral had naturally accrued there but would not survive long-term without a proper reef home, the news release said. “Corals on top of the pipe were not recovered as prolonged exposure to air kills them, but most everything below the water line was removed using chisels and hammers,” it said.

Smaller corals were taken to a new coral nursery at the National Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i, while larger coral heads were being affixed to existing reef this week.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.