2011-10-25 Water Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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said the DOH testing, etc., should be done by January. The Manager-Chief Engineer said that hopefully,the system will be running by January. 3) Pu`ukala/Kona Ocean View Properties Subdivision Improvement District Update—DWS will be meeting with the new head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)tomorrow. USDA provides a loan/grant program for improvement districts like this one, and is eager to loan money,the Manager-Chief Engineer said. The meeting tomorrow is aimed at seeing how DWS can take more advantage of their loan/grant program. The loans are low interest, and the program is a good one. USDA seems to think that DWS can wrap up a loan program in 60 days; it used to take 9-10 months to get a USDA loan,the Manager-Chief Engineer said. 4) Public Information and Education Specialist Update—The Manager-Chief Engineer congratulated Ms. Aton on a very good conference. Ms. Aton said it was a group effort among all of DWS's divisions. She said that prior to the conference, DWS met with the Ocean View community at a meeting facilitated by Council member Ms. Brittney Smart. DWS gave updates on the construction of the fill station and the water quality timeline, based on when the electrical power would be able to pump up water samples from the well. The timeline runs three months out from the date of the meeting, she said. DWS explained the voltage issues and how the water quality timeline would not start until the power was on and the samples were taken. The community appeared to accept the explanation, she said. Most of the concerns that the community expressed were regarding the fill station road. There were no major concerns regarding the gate hours, she said. The Manager-Chief Engineer said that the community has formed a committee to determine the gate hours;the committee was to meet in about two weeks' time from the date of the meeting. The community will let DWS know what gate hours the community considers to be reasonable. He noted that there is a residence right next to the fill station, and DWS does not want to disrupt the residents. Ms. Aton said that another community meeting is expected to take place soon. 5) HWWA conference report—Ms. Aton reported that there were 115 registrants, with 122 attending the meet-and-greet event and 123 at the banquet. The hotel offered the same food and beverage rates for the conference as they did for the 2009 conference. Attendees expressed appreciation at the diversity of presentation topics, she said. Among the suggestions were a panel of water supply managers from each county and a panel of finance directors from each county. Regarding upcoming educational events, Ms. Aton said there are Career Days coming up at Kalaniana`ole Intermediate and at the Youth Challenge Academy at the former Kulam Prison. The Manager-Chief Engineer expressed appreciation to the Board for attending the conference. Mr. Taniguchi complimented the DWS Kona staff for their great hospitality. Mr. Kaneshiro said he was particularly interested in the speaker on watershed protection, and asked the Department if there were any initiatives regarding watershed protection and groundwater recharge. Funding for such initiatives is always a consideration, and he suggested that Ms. Garson talk with the hotel association here to see if they were willing to help with the watershed coalition on a voluntary dollar-a-night fund. Hotel guests would be asked to pay a voluntary dollar per each night's stay in the hotel,to be contributed to watershed protection. Mr. Kaneshiro said that he had experienced such a fund-raising campaign while staying in Puerto Rico for a coral reef initiative. He said nobody would refuse to pay a voluntary dollar a night, and he thought it was something for DWS to think about. The Manager-Chief Engineer noted that there had been similar bills before the Legislature, but none passed. The Manager- Chief Engineer said that DWS is active in watershed restoration, participating in a number of such groups. DWS has not actively raised funds for such initiatives, but Ms. Aton represents DWS at watershed committee meetings. Ms. Aton confirmed this, noting that she will attend such a meeting in November. DWS is basically continuing to keep the conversation going; it is more at the talking level but the issue of watershed protection is coming to the fore, Ms. Aton said. Mr. Kaneshiro said everything comes down to money, and the dollar a night initiative is something to think about. Mr. Okamoto said that DWS is working with DOH, Page 16 of 21 10-25-11—Water Board Minutes js