Water problem sign of loss of control
Read your headline news about mandatory water shutoff pending for North Kona. I moved here to paradise in 1977 for the primary reason there was a freshwater lens under Kona that rivaled the Mississippi River flow, particularly around the Honokohau area.
Since then it’s been contaminated with a substandard sewage plant and a huge building boom sparked by the tech boom on the West Coast.
The only options to gain back control of our water are (1) wrest control away from the State of Hawaii/ County of Hawaii in the ownership and drilling of water wells, and/or (2) stop polluting the groundwater with substandard septic tanks/cesspools (make the owners of all properties put in a state-of-the-art, non-polluting septic tank) and/or (3) stop inviting people to come here.
I’d prefer we go back to old Kona. Get rid of the traffic, the highways, the international airport, and the control of the State of Hawaii, which seems to know nothing but how to extract income out of the people who move here thinking this is gonna be the next Waikiki.
I dive pretty much every day (another reason to move here) and the State of Hawaii has screwed up our once wonderfully clear ocean water by contaminating the ground water. Being a realist, I say let anyone and everyone drill their own wells. We are at the tipping point. Don’t let newbies screw this place like they did Hanauma Bay and the rest of Oahu.
Howard Hoeflich
Kailua-Kona
Bravo Wilson Pepper!
I could have written the My Turn column in WHT June 28. As a former resident of East Hawaii, I am sick of the on going east/west tirade, but otherwise, I agree completely. Guess there was no long-term planning when it came to back-up pumps or (the all to frequent) power outages. Really?!
This shows a lack of planning and leadership. What are the chances that four or five pumps would go out at the same time and not even one or two back-up pumps for 13 pumps? Question is why does it take so long to replace these pumps? Could it be that they come from a distant Third World country?
The Department of Water Supply needs to fess up to the public and be more transparent to the community they say they serve. What really is the problem?
Lani Kahawaii
Kaloko