HONOLULU — Residential water use on Oahu under voluntary restrictions continues to decline, but it is still too early to tell if the Honolulu Board of Water Supply will need to impose mandatory cutbacks, the Honolulu Advertiser reported.
Water use for Aug. 7-13 — the first full week of the voluntary program — averaged 168.92 million gallons per day, the board announced. That was down slightly from the previous week when the average was 171.78 million gallons per day, the article said.
By asking people to restrict lawn watering to three days a week, the board hopes to reduce water use to about 162 million gallons per day — a 10 percent reduction from the all-time high of 180 million gallons per day, reached earlier this summer.
The voluntary program also has generated a large number of calls from Oahu residents finking on neighbors who haven't gotten the message.
"They call them water weenies," Denise DeCosta, water board spokeswoman, told the paper.
In DeCosta's community relations department, one of two agencies that field complaints from the public, calls went from about 50 a day to 100 a day, she said.
"I think the public is very concerned," DeCosta said in the article. "If they see someone who is ignoring the recommended irrigation days, people are concerned enough to let us know."
The board will call or write to the alleged "water weenies" and ask for help in cutting use. "It is still a voluntary thing," she added. "We are trying to get people to go with the flow so we can avoid having to do mandatory restrictions. We would rather not have to do that."
Hawaii has been in a drought for nearly five years. As water use climbed, well levels dropped, prompting the water board's request for voluntary cutbacks, the paper reported.
"So far we are seeing good responses," engineer Barry Usagawa, water resources principal executive for the board, said in the article. "I think it is working and it is a very good sign. And we want to thank people for that."
It is too early, though, to know if the board will need to put mandatory water restrictions in place, Usagawa said. A decision would likely be made later this month, the paper reported.
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