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Apparently you think Waikiki is superior to "town". LOL. I don't know a single local that would prefer to buy a condo in Waikiki instead of most other areas in town. Condos in Waikiki (specifically prices) actually performed the WORST out of ALL the other areas in town between 06' and 11'. They are slowly catching up now but quite a few condos in Waikiki are selling for less today than they were back in 2006. That never happened in town. Prices were and are MUCH more stable in town than in Waikiki.
You can add me to your list of locals who would prefer to buy a condo in other areas of town. I'm not interested in Waikiki as an investment or as a primary residence. Waikiki has become one giant armpit, I could never live there.
And what would the population of Oahu be if a nice house cost $30,000 and rent could be had for $150 a month?
High housing costs do prevent a lot of people from moving to an expensive area.
I remember that the biggest population control measure we used to have here on these islands was culture shock and unique culture. Back den people moved from Hawai'i because it was like living in a foriegn country and backwards, people couldn't adapt so they left. Well someone sure changed that huh?
You can add me to your list of locals who would prefer to buy a condo in other areas of town. I'm not interested in Waikiki as an investment or as a primary residence. Waikiki has become one giant armpit, I could never live there.
They're going to run out of a reliable water supply one of these days. And once they dip too far into existing aquifers, it's pau.
Researching what it will take once that point is reached... and it will be reached soon... I found that a large desalination was built in El Paso Texas in 2007 because they've already drawn the aquifer down to the point that salt brine has invaded the fresh water supply. So they can provide a peek at what's to come.
Basically a scaled up industrial version of a home reverse osmosis water purifier, it's a very energy intensive process. In El Paso, where the energy cost is among the lowest in the country, the cost of the water produced is 2.1 X the previous cost of distributing fresh water from wells... such as Hawai'i uses.
So with energy costs in Hawai'i at the opposite end of the scale, among the highest in the country, I can easily imagine water rates tripling once desalination becomes necessary.
Just one more thing the wealthy will brush off, but that will further put the squeeze on ordinary folks.
Researching what it will take once that point is reached... and it will be reached soon... I found that a large desalination was built in El Paso Texas in 2007 because they've already drawn the aquifer down to the point that salt brine has invaded the fresh water supply. So they can provide a peek at what's to come.
Basically a scaled up industrial version of a home reverse osmosis water purifier, it's a very energy intensive process. In El Paso, where the energy cost is among the lowest in the country, the cost of the water produced is 2.1 X the previous cost of distributing fresh water from wells... such as Hawai'i uses.
So with energy costs in Hawai'i at the opposite end of the scale, among the highest in the country, I can easily imagine water rates tripling once desalination becomes necessary.
Just one more thing the wealthy will brush off, but that will further put the squeeze on ordinary folks.
I am a believer that it should not be allowed to go that far. While I am definitely not a proponent of government regulation, I do believe it is governments responsibility to maintain and protect the states natural resources necessary to support the population that are under States control.
They can estimate the size the of the existing aquifer, calculate it's rate replenishment and develop a model based on average usage to come up with an estimate of what population level the existing aquifers can sustain.
I think it's reasonable to limit and control building development based on level that can be naturally supported by the island's natural resources such as water.
And yes, that in and of itself would result in higher prices for existing homes once the limits are reached.
But for elected officials to allow development to the point where the island can no longer naturally supply fresh water would be irresponsible at best.
I enjoy Waikiki and love all the activity going on there. But can easily understand why some people would not like it. My parents, for example, could never enjoy living in Waikiki. They wouldn't like all the things I do like about the place. And that's fine. One persons pit is another persons paradise. That's a good thing.
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I am a believer that it should not be allowed to go that far. While I am definitely not a proponent of government regulation, I do believe it is governments responsibility to maintain and protect the states natural resources necessary to support the population that are under States control.
They can estimate the size the of the existing aquifer, calculate it's rate replenishment and develop a model based on average usage to come up with an estimate of what population level the existing aquifers can sustain.
I think it's reasonable to limit and control building development based on level that can be naturally supported by the island's natural resources such as water.
And yes, that in and of itself would result in higher prices for existing homes once the limits are reached.
But for elected officials to allow development to the point where the island can no longer naturally supply fresh water would be irresponsible at best.
While I agree population control is indeed a real issue here... when it comes to water, I mostly blame the city for our problem.
As another poster had mentioned, water prices will go way up before we see a shortage. I completely agree... we won't see any real problems until well after our water bills increase not just double or triple (which really translates to tiny increases in our monthly combined water/sewer bills)...but more like 5-10X. Water in Hawaii is incredibly cheap (at least right now). It's the sewer fees that kill people. The city airs those "please conserve water" tv ads yet their billing system does not promote or encourage water conservation. If I double my electric consumption, my HECO bill goes up by about double. If I double my gas consumption, my Hawaii Gas bill goes up by about double. However, if I double my water consumption, my combined monthly water/sewer bill goes up by about 10-15%. 100% increase in water consumption translates to a 10-15% increase in your monthly bill. That's a serious problem. In a 6-plex SFH complex I rent, my water/sewer bill is roughly $600/mo. The water portion? $85 out of the $600 - less than 15% of the entire monthly bill is dedicated to water use. That's $14/mo per household in water consumption and $86/mo going to sewer per household. Who's going to conserve water when they are paying $14/mo to use it? Reducing by 20% saves a couple dollars a month? Way to incentivize! The city clearly doesn't understand the concept of billing for actual consumption. If they did, we would have a lot more water in our dwindling aquifers. This asinine billing system also creates hardship for singles, couples or elderly people living alone as they are hit by massive disproportionate water/sewer fees for an extremely small chunk of water consumption. To put this into perspective, a family of 8 living in a 3,000 SF household will pay 1/6 the amount of water/sewer PER HEAD than a single 70 year old living in a small 800 SF detached plantation cottage. That means if the 70-year old is using the exact same amount of water as each of those 8 people in the 3,000 SF home, he will pay 6X more than each of those 8 individuals living in the larger home. That's blatantly absurd. I blame inept city officials for our water problems today and those we will incur in the future. They should revamp the way they charge for water consumption so it more accurately reflects the use of our finite natural resource.
I do agree - water is dirt cheap here on Oahu - regardless if you have a pool, wash your car, have a sprinkler system, the water bill isn't that high.
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