Kawaihapai Water Association

No. The HDOT-A is in negotiations for a 50 year lease with the Army for Kawaihapai Airfield, but those negotiations are ongoing and a new lease has not yet been signed.

By default, the Army is only authorized to issue lease agreements for a maximum of 5 years. In order for a lease term to be greater than 5 years, special permission must be obtained from the Secretary of the Army. The process to obtain that permission is a 12-18 month process. Army Garrison Hawaii/HDOT completed that process and received authorization to negotiate for a 50 year term. Those negotiations are not complete and DOT has stated they will not sign a lease if new management of the water system has not been put in place.

As long as the Hawaii Department of Transportation Airports (HDOT-A) is engaged in its current lease the Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) can command HDOT to continue to providing water. However, if the HDOT does not sign a new lease by June 30th, 2024 it will no longer have a legal access to the well and water system. The airfield property and water system will revert to Army control. The Army CAN shut off the water system and is not obligated to obey any request made by HDOH. The Army has stated if HDOT does ot sign a new lease, the Army will be forced to cap the well and turn off the water.

HDOT-A receives funds from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the form of grants and it uses those monies to operate, maintain, and improve the airports in Hawaii. Virtually no airport in all of America is able to operate without FAA grants. Those grants are specifically for airport operations only. The FAA considers any money spent providing water to off-airport water users a misuse of FAA grants. That means that operating the water system puts all future FAA funding in jeopardy and risks the entire Hawaii air transportation system.

Much like DOTs Diversion of Federal Funds problem, the Army is given money by the federal government specifically to spend on the defense of the country. Because the Army does not have a specific use for the water, maintaining and operating the water system would be a misuse of Federal Department of Defense funds. To put it simply, they can not use money allocated for military spending to operate and maintain a water system for non-military water users.

It would look really bad for Army and DOT if that water was turned off! Yet, there are legal restrictions that might force them to turn the water off and that is the message that will be told to the press and community members. Due to the nature of federal funding, both DOT and Army are not able to provide water to off airport users without violating their agreements with the federal government. That is why both would prefer a 3rd party take on the water system.

The Hawaii Board of water has not officially commented on its stance regarding the airfields water system. Informally two major reasons have been cited by knowledgeable sources:

1) The water system would need 12-15 million dollars in system upgrades to reach board of water standards.

2) It is difficult and sometimes impossible to get state BOW funds allocated to improve systems that are on federal land. Because the Airfields water system is on Army land, BOW would be unable to make improvements it feels are necessary.

Several private companies have expressed interest but cannot take on a system with a lease term of only 5 years. That is because any private company regulated by the PUC would only be able to charge rates set by the PUC. In order to recover the cost of any capitol investment, they would need 20+ year term from the Army. Yet, Army is only allowed to grant a 5-year term for 3rd party management unless it goes through a 12-18 month process to obtain permission from the Secretary of the Army to authorize a longer term. Because the June 30th 2024 deadline is less than 5 months away, it is impossible to complete this process in that time.

No. That is only the first step of many that must be completed. We have to complete a Hawaii Department of Health Capacity study, get a licensure from the Army, and contract a water operator. Yet, a water association appears to be the only path forward. The only alternative is losing access to water.

A Non-Profit Water Association is feasible and advised by several 3rd party water industry experts. There are two different water associations that currently exist in Hawaii that we intend to use as a model. It is promising, and can work as a solution, but only if we get started soon. The June 30th deadline is fast approaching.

Yes, if we do not reach the $10k Goal each donor will be returned the money they contributed except what is taken in credit card processing fees. Yet, once the money has been paid to the attorneys it can no longer be refunded.