Private Water Supply on BI (rental, condo, houses)

[Brinagee]

Hello everyone. I am from OC, CA and have never had to experience private water supply. How does this work? Is there a filter system? Do you ever run out? If so, how or what do you do? How does it seem to be working? Do the tanks usually need maintance??? If yes, is it expensive? I HAVE NO IDEA about any of this, so any info would be awesome!

Thanks!

[mdand3boys]

Read this brochure:

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ctahr200...es/RCflier.pdf

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Brinagee

Hello everyone. I am from OC, CA and have never had to experience private water supply. How does this work? Is there a filter system? Do you ever run out? If so, how or what do you do? How does it seem to be working? Do the tanks usually need maintance??? If yes, is it expensive? I HAVE NO IDEA about any of this, so any info would be awesome!

Thanks!

The first part is simple... water comes from the sky, and it's free!

For the rest, check the CTAHR website for a free online book about rainwater catchment. That is the fastest, best reference you can find. Hawai'i residents can even have a printed copy sent to them free. Welcome to College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai‘i

The basics are you have to design your roof and gutter system to collect the rain, have a storage tank to put it in (several kinds, the book discusses the differences), then have a filtration/sterilization system to remove contaminants it picks up along the way. I personally use a revolutionary .5 micron ceramic filter that is cheap and easy to maintain ($20 every 6 months) which is not mentioned in the book. See the product section on Monolithic — Home of the Monolithic Dome for these. Other, more conventional systems might run you $100-200 per year for filters, UV bulbs and whatnot. The tank typically needs to be cleaned out every 3 years or so, and unless you have a ferro-cement tank (which is naturally buffering) you'll need to add a box of baking soda every month or so to reduce the natural acidity.

Yeah, you can run out of water in dry years... my friends in Kea'au had it happen once in 25 years... a lot of people had it happen in 2010... in which case you can have water hauled in. In my area a 5,000 gallon load from Kea'au runs about $250.

G' luck!

OpenD

Oh yeah, and if you are putting in a new system, it is absolutely essential for good luck that you have a local kahuna bless it before you use it. The traditional cost is two bottles of vodka. One to bless the cistern with, and one for the kahuna.

[Brinagee]

Msand3boys.... thanks so much!
OpenD- THanks sooooo very much. I will keep the Kuhuna in mind

Praying and praying that we move out to Hawaii in July. Never noticed or heard anything about Private Water Supply and needed all the info I could get. THanks, its very much appreciated!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Brinagee, two things to look out for when shopping for a home on the BI. You've already found what you call private water supply but what is commonly called "catchment" here. The other is that some properties are "leasehold", which means that you would own your house or condo but there would be a lease for the land. Most leases are for 99 years, but if you buy something with ten years left on the lease, then the property owner will have the right to renegotiate the terms of the lease when it expires in ten years. That could add a lot of unknown costs to your monthly payment.

[nwcountrygal]

The other thought I found with catchment that you may not realize... no fire hydrants. That was a new concept when I realized it. Many areas even with public water still no hydrants. Just an interesting thing as a mainlander I originally didn't think about.

[cynmkolohe]

Based on the details of your question, it does seem that you are asking about catchment water tanks, which are not uncommon in our rural subdivisions. In that case, the link MD3 posted is a great resource.

But, just to be sure all possibilities are covered, I want to point out that some subdivisions here on the Big Island do have private water systems that service only limited areas. The private companies get their water from private wells or, in a few cases, high elevation reservoirs. Any chance you came across the term in a rental ad or a property listing? If that happens to be the case, if you provide the name of the subdivision you were looking at, we can give you more information.

[nwcountrygal]

Good point Cynmkolohe. Shouldn't just assume.

[hotzcatz]

Actually, houses and "sub-divisions" here in Hawaii and on the Big Island are so non-mainland standard, that if you'd let us know which ones you are interested in, we could give you some general details about the sub-division.

[henry1]

has any of the small town that are located on the ocean thought about going in on a solar power fresh water maker and the cost is not that bad if you think about it ..the one i looked up for a small house is about $5000.oo dollars that will make up to 500.gallons a water a day with solar and wind power system and it the size of a front engine block of a small car body .. .. ..

there are a couple that will make up to 10.000.gallons of fresh water a day that is sized like a extra large truck bed that can be placed inside the small town and ran with solar and wind to make the water and then pump it into a large tank that the town needs ..