Water rates set
to rise in July

Additional money is needed to
upgrade pipelines islandwide

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com

Expect water bills on Oahu to go up later this year.

The city Board of Water Supply voted this week to accelerate its replacement program for the island's 2,000 miles of water pipes, Clifford Jamile, water manager, said.

The stepped-up program, which will also entail upgrading pump stations, reservoirs and other facilities, will require an additional $50 million annually.

The board also is anticipating needing between $100 million and $130 million for new projects to meet growing demands, he said.

What all these expenditures will require is some increase in rates, but how much is still being studied by analysts, Jamile said.

The board is looking at having new rates in effect when the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

"Our goal is to do 40 to 50 miles per year," Jamile said, noting that it costs about $1 million to replace one mile of piping. "That would bring the backlog down to something more manageable."

The agency was replacing about 10 miles annually when he became water manager in 1998, he said. "We're now doing 35, and we need to pick it up even more."

Pipes today are not breaking at an extremely high rate, Jamile said, but that situation could become unmanageable if the replacement program is not put into place.

"We're acknowledging we have aging infrastructure and it needs to be replaced," he said.

Water users have not experienced a rate hike since July 1995.

A long-term schedule calls for there to be rate increases almost annually, but the board has been routinely postponing them.

Single-family home dwellers pay a flat rate of $3.70 on every two-month bill. They then pay $1.77 per 1,000 gallons on the first 12,999 gallons, $2.12 per 1,000 gallons from 13,000 to 29,999 gallons, and $3.18 per 1,000 gallons on 30,000 gallons or more.

The average family of four uses 13,000 gallons and pays $49.72 every two months. That figure does not include sewage fees, which are included in water bills.