Honolulu Board of Water Supply

The EPA just announced new maximum levels of contaminants in drinking water. The new rules cover what are known as forever chemicals, PFAS. The Conversation talked to Erwin Kawata from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply about PFAS detections on Oʻahu and the new federal rules.

State health officials over the weekend flagged the additional detection of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in a Waialua drinking well. The compounds of these "forever chemicals" don’t break down easily and can be traced to materials used on plantations in the past and to firefighting foam used by the military.

Water departments on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island have advised customers to conserve water ahead of possible storm-related power outages this month. But what does the power grid have to do with the water that comes out of your faucet? HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote explains.

The $100 per toilet rebate is an incentive to swap to low flow models that save water as well as money on monthly bills.

To mark a decade since 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from an underground tank in the Navy's Red Hill facility, The Conversation's Catherine Cruz spoke to representatives from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi. BWS Manager Ernest Lau said he doesn't want to take any chances with Honolulu's drinking water.

Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau said most of the recovered costs would go toward replacing the shutdown Halawa shaft at another location and developing two new production wells. The leak continues to threaten the aquifer shared by the Navy and the BWS.

The U.S. military plans to begin draining fuel from World War II-era underground fuel tanks on Oʻahu. Work to drain the 104 million gallons remaining in the tanks is scheduled to begin on Monday. The operation comes nearly two years after the facility sickened 6,000 people when it leaked jet fuel into a Pearl Harbor drinking water well.

HPR's Cassie Ordonio shares stories from this past weekend's resource fair in Lāhainā; ILWU leader underscores importance of cross union cooperation; and Honolulu residents may soon see water rate hikes in order to fund repairs on aging infrastructure

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply has proposed a series of water rate increases over the next several years, partially to improve aging infrastructure. The water utility is also eyeing the military's defueling of Red Hill, which is set to begin in October. BWS Chief Engineer Ernie Lau spoke to The Conversation's Catherine Cruz about the latest.

Building off the state's demonstration project, which tested out three processes of desalination in the 1990s, BWS is now planning the construction of a small seawater plant at Campbell Industrial Park. The plant would be able to turn seawater into drinking water.