PUC-regulated small water systems: operators, aging infrastructure, metering and cybersecurity emerge as top concerns

Joy Gannon, a representative of the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, gave a detailed overview of PUC-regulated public water systems and common operational issues facing small utilities across Hawaii.

Gannon said many PUC-regulated systems serve communities on island outskirts where counties did not provide public water early in development. "They're typically in locations where the county did not have a public water system to begin with," she said, and noted that on some islands the PUC-regulated population totals are in the low tens of thousands. She described the "rule of a hundred" used by operators to explain SDWB's public water system threshold (15 service connections or serving 25 people 60 days a year).

On treatment and distribution, Gannon described common practices and recurring maintenance problems: "Most of our systems treat with sodium hypochlorite," she said, then detailed monitoring and maintenance challenges for chemical feed systems and storage tanks. She illustrated typical best practice levels, saying, "Best management practice is about 0.2 parts per million of chlorine at the end of the system" and noted the maximum permissible level is 4 parts per million.

Meters and nonrevenue water were emphasized. Gannon described examples of advanced metering infrastructure and audits: one nonregulated system she cited had installed 89 smart meters; 37 of those showed leaks past the meters totaling about 15,000 gallons per day and the system recorded roughly 19% unaccounted-for water. She said larger utilities including Honolulu Board of Water Supply and counties are using similar technologies and that many PUC systems are starting to adopt them to identify leaks.

Gannon also summarized national operator concerns from the American Water Works Association survey, noting watershed and source protection had become the number-one issue in 2024. She flagged workforce shortages for operators and engineers as a persistent challenge for small systems, and described cybersecurity as an emerging risk after mainland incidents: "A lot of these systems have SCADA systems, which essentially controls the water system," she said, noting the FBI has investigated at least one breach affecting an operator with Hawaii ties.

On conservation and enforcement, Gannon and other speakers said existing rules provide limited tools for aggressive conservation enforcement. Gannon relayed operators' concerns that penalties are often small ($50 per day in many rules) and that utilities fear lawsuits if they shut off service for excessive use, making strong enforcement politically and legally difficult.

Ending: Presenters urged more technical assistance, circuit-rider services and interagency coordination to help small and PUC-regulated systems adopt metering, perform water audits and address operator shortages and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.