“Back in the Day,” appearing every Sunday, takes a look at articles that ran on this date in history in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hawaii’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper. The items appear verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.

Susceptibility to prolonged droughts is one of the most serious water issues facing Hawaii, according to the “;National Water Summary 1983,”; a report issued yesterday by the U.S. Department of Interior.

The summary was prepared before news came out that 1983 was the driest year on record here, with only 5.03 inches of rain being recorded at the Honolulu Airport.

The summary is the first of an annual series of such reports to be produced by the Interior Department's Geological Survey to provide a state-by-state assessment of the nation's water resources.

Issues facing Hawaii and other Pacific areas were identified by the Hawaii district of the survey's water resources division in consultation with state and other Pacific area officials.

The report said “;A statewide drought during 1976-77 caused significant decreases in stream flow and ground water level declines to historic lows on Oahu and other Islands in the state, which resulted in severe crop damage, livestock losses and water use restrictions.”;

The report said that principal water supply issues in Hawaii result from variable distribution of rain.

“;Although the average annual precipitation is about 73 inches, precipitation on individual Islands ranges from 6.5 to 450 inches,”; it said.

… Oahu, which has 80 percent of the state's population, has the most water issues.

The report quoted the Hawaii Water Resources Regional Study Committee's prediction that if present trends continue, demand could equal recoverable supply by the year 2000.