Hawaii First Water

Archives for December 2017

New State of Hawaii Brown Water Beach Website

December:  (Kobayashi Comment: This new State of Hawaii website is an excellent example of the fusion of GIS mapping capabilities with water data.  I strongly support such efforts and commend the DOH and Clean Water Branch for taking this first step)

HONOLULU — The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) Clean Water Branch has developed a newly upgraded website that gives the public access to up-to-date information — integrated with aerial photos from Google maps — to check on the status of the water quality of beaches that may have a surge in bacteria levels or are being impacted by sewage spills. This website is part of a revised statewide beach monitoring and notification system.

The new features and functions of the website, developed in part from a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were based on feedback from those within the health department as well as external stakeholders. The website is part of an integrated notification system that includes warning signs posted at selected beaches throughout the state.

This is the link to the new website…

US Government Releases First Global Water Strategy

December: By Brent Walton, Circle of Blue:

To coordinate its response to floods, droughts and disease and other water challenges whose political and economic challenges leap borders the Trump Administration submitted the Federal government’s first global water strategy.

Ordered by Congress, the strategy lays out four goals; to increases access to safe drinking water and sanitation, improve water management, protect watersheds from pollution, and prevent conflicts over river, lakes, aquifers that cross political boundaries.

“Safe water and sanitization are fundamental to solving challenges to human health, economic development and peace and security,” the 70 page report states.

Here is the link to the report…

U.S. Household Water Use Continues to Decline…

(December/Kobayashi Comment:  This trend is also seen in Hawaii although Hawaii’s population growth will likely erode this decline in the future.)

By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue:

Continuing a trend that began in the early 1990s with tighter federal plumbing standards, U.S. household water use dropped again in 2015.

When assessing national figures, there are two main ways to gauge water use at home: the amount used per person and total water use, which incorporates changes in population. By both measures, water use is declining, according to the latest report from the U.S. Geological Survey, the agency that gathers national data every five years.

For people served by public and private utilities, water use for cooking, drinking, showering, lawn watering, car washing, and other household tasks dropped to an average of 83 gallons per person per day in 2015, down seven percent compared to 2010. Household use was 105 gallons per person per day in 1990.

Link for the rest of the article