Water shortage and restrictions for kona side.

[terracore]

They need to stop buying pumps from China.

[alaskyn66]

Somebody said elsewhere , why not build a reservoir.. not a bad idea.. local politics aside. At some point they need to decide whether they want drinking water or not. Or do they want to buy their water from Walmart.

[EightFingers]

So what are those big tanks on Waikoloa road just up from the highway? Are those water tanks? Why don't they do that for Kona?

[geochem]

A couple of comments:
1) I understand that much of the reason for the restriction on un-requested water in restaurants has more to do with the water required for washing said containers (which is a much larger volume) than with the water in the container...
2) As in Waikoloa, they do have ballast tanks in Kona but the storage volume is nowhere near enough for a reserve - and surface storage of large volumes of water on the Big Island has too many problems to go into here...
3) The use of recovered wastewater is a complex issue: recovered wastewater still contains pharma-meds (blood thinners, contraceptives, statins, etc.) as well as household chemicals (e.g. laundry brighteners, pesticides, etc.) and other waste-products that can make their way down into the groundwater supply. The likely impacts of that reclaimed water on down-gradient drinking-water supplies is still being sorted out by those with an interest in groundwater water quality.

[ElysianWort]

There are a lot of waterfalls on our side that just drop to the ocean. If just a couple of them could be piped and pumped back uphill then gravity feed down to kona...
yeah I know, how many millions would that cost in man-power and pipes, what would be the impact downstream of those waterfalls and rivers..in retrospect might not be a good idea if it creates a population boom in Kona.

[Guest]

The council has now gotten involved in the Kona water supply issues. Here is an interesting video from Big Island video news.

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2017/0...na-issues/

Does this mean most dining in Kona resorts and restaurants won't get a glass of water unless they ask for it?

This slightly older article regarding Oahu's current fresh water supply was interesting. Wonder how low the Kona water aquafir's have become over the past few years of drought conditions.

http://hawaiifirstwater.org/what-is-the-...-future-2/

Does the Pohakaloa military base on Saddle Road need or use fresh water?
If so, how much water and where do they truck the water from?
Does the Military base or Observatories on Mauna Kea have or share the same water restrictions as the Kona side residents?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Does the Military base or Observatories on Mauna Kea have or share the same water restrictions as the Kona side residents?

Do Kona side residents have to put up with the same unrestricted, unresearched, and unverified comments about their activities as astronomers and soldiers?

The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?

[Tink]

Lots of good ideas and thoughts. Water is the most precious resource that we take for granted no matter where we are, especially when on vacation, and take that grand bubble bath or long extended shower because it's unlimited hot water, don'tcha know!
I think that water optional at restaurants is a great idea, as it reduces the waste and overhead costs. When the hostess seats you, just a quick "would you like water with your meal" would suffice, and promptly the beverage server brings water and starts the beverage order.
County could use "final runoff", aka waterfall to ocean as a source as mentioned by pump powered by the water that bypasses to the ocean back up to a suitable location for a storage/filtration station and dispersed accordingly.
Military training is usually part of the squad and brought behind the troop carriers barged in for their stay. It is training after all! (Water for the "office management", the rest "This is training! Find your own!)
The observatories, have no idea, but more than likely not a waster by any means.

Community begins with Aloha

[kalakoa]

Does the Pohakaloa military base on Saddle Road need or use fresh water?

The new County "Rest Area" Park uses fresh water. Which is trucked in. Paid for by our tax dollars.

[TomK]

"Does the Military base or Observatories on Mauna Kea have or share the same water restrictions as the Kona side residents?"

We had to stop our staff from using the hot tubs and whirlpool baths at the summit every day.