- cross-posted to:
- libertyhub
- cross-posted to:
- libertyhub
In Hawaii, one of the most important sayings is ola i ka wai, “water is life” — a phrase that not only sums up what it means to exist on an island, but what it means to live, period. But now, one of the largest of the island chain’s land masses is facing a triple threat to its sole freshwater source, and if it isn’t addressed soon, one community member says, “we’re in deep trouble.”
Despite being surrounded by seemingly endless ocean, freshwater on Oahu, the third-largest of Hawaii’s six major islands, is not easily accessible. The island relies on an underground aquifer for its water supply. Replenishing that aquifer is a decades-long natural process, as it takes a single drop of water roughly 25 years to make it there from the sky.
And recent years have seen compounding problems: less rain, leading to significant droughts, and repeated jet fuel leaks and PFAS chemical spills contaminating water systems. All of this significantly limits available water use for locals, many of whom say tourism is only worsening the situation. Just months ago, the world’s largest surfing wave pool opened up on the island — filled with freshwater.
Aside from all the other issues, I can’t even imagine the psychological toll it must take being aware that you’re surrounded by non-potable water during a water crisis.
I can’t speak for a long-lived crisis, but about 7 years ago I lived in the boondocks and got flooded-in. Had about a 75-ft radius of dry immediately around my house and the rest muddy flood water. Waters receded after a day or two, but my house relied on well water but had no power for 6 days to be able to pump it. The situation was…not great.
Cannot imagine the stress of that being a mostly permanent fact of life.
I mean, I’d just get on with creating my own filter system these days, how many thousands do I need?
Hawaii could just put in desalination plants! How much could that possibly cost?
Probably so much that this article didn’t even discuss Pacific islands, but…
https://medium.com/@desalter/plant-prices-the-costs-of-constructing-a-desalination-facility-2c31f7fcb690
Considering the mainland costs from the article of a 25 million gallon per day in NA ($60-$100 million) and a quick Google search says that Hawaii uses about 196 million gallons a day, if they just went to 200 million gallons of water in desalination plants, it would be somewhere between 480 million and $800 million.
Cheap!
What’s the cost if they run out of drinking water on the island?
What private corporation is going to agree to build enough desalination plants to do something about it quickly enough at a price the Hawaiian government can afford?
Unfortunately, we live in a capitalist system. That means the cost of them running out of drinking water is too fucking bad, just die.