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I have been doing some searching for possible grants from the Federal Government to help install, improve, extend existing water lines in order to help RURAL areas (Like Puna) bring their water supplies up to date. I found this link that states funds are available. Our lot is in Nanawale, and water lines exist in the front. Any ideas on how to get someones attention that the County could apply for this grant and extend water lines throughout the development or any other developments that would qualify? Just not sold on Catchment water supply.
http://www.federalgrantswire.com/emergen...rants.html
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That RUS grant is for communities that have had a recent decline in water quality.... and the money is very limited, $500,000 for two years...
"Grants made to alleviate a significant decline in quantity or quality of water available from the water supplies in rural areas that occurred within two years of filing an application with USDA cannot exceed $500,000."
One of the biggest problems on this island is that Safe Drinking Water Act & the Clean Water Act all have statements that look at decline in water quality.... and there is no data on this island for past water quality, so to show a decline (or improvement) is not an easy thing to do.... and it is hard to show a decline in water quality when there is no data... so unless there is data from Nanawale to back up the water quality decline in the last 2 years, this would be a tough grant to get.
At $500,000 this grant would not cover the cost of running water lines into Nanawale. Plus, you would probably hit a some of resistance from some of your fellow communitymembers, as I know of a few that relish not being tied to a government water system.....
Do you know if there is sufficient interest in Nanawale to warrant this action by the county?
Do you know if there is any decline in water quality, or have you checked with any of the water labs in the state for information on Nanwale water quality (this will be fairly tough, as private water systems probably also have private data...)?
Do you have any idea what the total cost of running water into Nanawale would be?
In a time of huge county cutbacks, running water lines may not be on the top of the county list of things to do, unless there is sufficient interest, need, and incentive...
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Dear Carey, No, I have not done any of those things you mentioned. It just seems to me that county water is a better option when it comes to Safe Water than Catchment. Obviously if their is no interest then it is a mute point. Just trying to bring it the attention of the group.
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What a lot of us do in Puna is drink only county water we get at the taps and not worry about the quality of catchment. There are taps for residents only use at the Nanawale Longhouse.
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One of the benefits to having water mains installed would be fire hydrants. My house is safer and also my homeowners insurance is cheaper due to a nearby fire hydrant (my coworker called and asked our agent why his policy cost more).
The down side to a community water system is a water bill. I don't know how much folks pay on county water, but for example if it was $30 bucks a month, well I just spent over 2 years worth of water bills on a new UV system that will cost me another ~$8.5/month for the light bulb, another $24/yr for filters, the electricity for the bulb, the cost of replacing the liner/cover/catchment and the joy of finding geckos and coqui frogs living in my catchment. Don't worry too much about the catchment, well actually, don't worry once your disinfection system is tested. I just installed a UV unit and will be having a bacti test performed and I'll check my own pH.
Cheers,
Sean
See you in the surf
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I just use a cup of bleach every month poured into our catchment. Seems to have worked for the past 15 years. Of course we still use the main water line spigots on HWY 130 for drinking water. And no water bill every month!
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A little bit off topic I suppose but I just purchased an excellent book on water storage and water quality titled Water Storage, subtitled tanks, cisterns,aquifers and ponds. Author Art Ludwig. My main interest in this book is its fine coverage of self built ferrocement water tanks. To my (and the authors) knowledge this is the only text that covers a wide range of ferrocement water tanks with this kind of detail.
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I visited a house builder who had built his own house, in HPP I think, who had installed a hydrant with a 2 1/2" line from his own catchment. Sorry I don't remember all the details but this was worth his while. I think he got a big break on insurance. Also, I think HELCO was willing to hook up power supply to a big pump for very little cost.
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Aloha leilaniguy,
What do you use to carry the county water? Where do you store it? If you are not cleaning these (often) with bleach then your jugs are contaminating the water--especially if they are clear plastic.
I like catchment water--less dependent on the state. But it does take some work, which not everyone is able to do. Why not a program where people could sign up for county workers to come by monthly or so to maintain the system? In Kaumana there was talk of extending the water system but when the the cost of $20,000 or more per household came up the plan did not get too far.
Jerry
Art and Orchids B&B
http://www.artandorchids.com
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Used water bottles. Yes we wash them. We've been doing it for a few years and no, never been sick from it. I have however, gotten sick from drinking triple filtered, supposedly safe catchment.
