Kokua Line June Watanabe

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Watering in daytime
helps park’s new turf

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Question: The Board of Water Supply and the city Parks Department may not be in agreement on voluntary water restrictions during our current dry conditions. I saw the Central Oahu Regional Park fields near the Ka Uka Boulevard and Kamehameha Highway entrance being watered at 11:15 a.m. one Saturday. Why is that? Watering at night should be better for the grass instead of during the middle of the hot day.

Answer: The city Department of Parks & Recreation tries, as much as possible, to water at night, but in this situation, some daytime watering has been necessary, according to Director William Balfour.

Standard practice is to water during darkness for efficiency as well as to minimize disruption of park activities, he said.

However, Balfour said additional watering has been required to grow in new fields as the second phase of the park nears completion. Nocturnal irrigation is not enough for new turf to grow, he said.

What this means is that with priority given to establishing the new fields, the older fields are watered at less than ideal times of the day. The situation should improve as the turf grass becomes established, Balfour said, although daylight watering may still be necessary because of the size of the park.

The Board of Water Supply does advise against watering at midday because it can result in burning the tips of grasses or leaves, sometimes damaging the plant, said spokeswoman Denise DeCosta. Plants and grasses use water best if they're watered early in the day.

However, she acknowledged that new landscaping and lawns need to be kept wet 24 hours a day until the grass seeds take root.

"If this park just planted grass recently, they may need to keep it wet until the grass is established," DeCosta said when asked about the Central Oahu park.

The best time of the year to put in new lawns and landscaping is late fall and winter, when natural rainfall will help keep the turf wet, she added.

If you believe any individual, business or government agency is wasting water, call the Board of Water Supply's Waste Water Hotline at 527-6126 between 7:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

Medical care for kids

After reading the June 23 "Kokua Line" explaining what Hawaii's eligibility requirements are for Medicaid, Barbara Luksch, project director for Hawaii Covering Kids, said she wanted to let readers know that the qualifications for QUEST and Medicaid Fee-for-Service are different for children and youths under 19.

Hawaii Covering Kids conducts outreach and enrollment for the two free health insurance programs offered by the state and federal governments.

There is no asset test for those under 19, Luksch said, and there are higher income limits (in 2003 it is $3,263 a month for a family of four, plus $602 for each additional person).

Also, legal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years are eligible.

Luksch says you can get more information and applications by going to the Web site www.coveringkids.com or by calling Aloha United Way's hot line at 211.

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Useful phone numbers

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See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com