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Friends of Puna's Future P.O. Box 1959, Pahoa, HI 96778 808 - 965 -15550 On JJ Date: Jan 13, 2010 z F, rn To: J. Yoshimoto, Chairman, County Council Subject: Bill 189 , T ` 9 i> 73 c° Aloha J., n) FoPF has had some concerns about Bill 189 and it's intentions to limit water collection from county spigots to 55 gallons per day. It is a practical consideration that the general intention of making water available for human consumption is a public good which has been abused. Using these water facilities for car washing is wrong and that needs to be curtailed. However in times of drought people will be turning to these facilities for water for their crops, livestock and gardens and in those instances 55 gallons might not be sufficient to people's legitimate needs. I have discussed this with Quince Mento at Civil Defense and Friends of Puna's Future would like to offer the following proposals to address the needs of the county budget and the legitimate needs of the people. 1. Create an ordinance to prohibit inappropriate uses of water from county facilities. Specifically car washing, boat washing, washing ginger as mentions in Comm. 659. Do not include large quantities of water in this ordinance. 2. Do not meter water or charge the public for water for human consumption or agricultural needs. There will be an expensive backlash as some will likely damage or destroy the metering equipment and that will result in the opposite of controlling costs. Instead we suggest that the CoH separate water as a commodity from access to large quantities of water. This can be accomplished simply by installing parking meters at the spigot locations. With Quince I did a simple calculation where if 25 cents was charged for a sufficient amount of time to fill a 100 gallon container the CoH would receive income sufficient to offset it's water spigot budget by 50 %. In a parking meter environment anyone walking into the facility with containers would have free access to as much water can they can carry (not much water). Containers requiring a vehicle to carry would have to park at the spigots to load. 100 gallons might cost 25 cents. 400 gallons might cost $1.00. This would meet the needs of all level of users. Quince Mento tells me that the commercial water haulers are metered separately and billed by contract. Any official entering a water facility could see at a glance who has paid their parking meter fee just like the parking lot at the COunty Government Center. We might guess that 50% of the people would willingly pay the fee. Another 50% might try to avoid under risk of a parking ticket. In any event this proposal could assist the budget by generating revenue in lieu of restricting consumption. More politic. Please consider these suggestions from us as a proactive community group who favors solutions to simply complaining. Mahalo, Rob Tucker FoPF 965 - 1555.5 Comm. N Ref. Toy Ref. Coate