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The head of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply wants to accelerate the pace of pipe replacement and other system improvements — fixes that could sharply increase consumers’ water bills.

Only one mile of underground water pipeline is scheduled for replacement this year on Oahu. Wayne Hashiro, Board of Water Supply manager and chief engineer, told the City Council Committee on Public Works and Sustainability yesterday that he wants the agency to eventually replace 30 miles of pipe each year while rebuilding and replacing reservoirs, pumps and generators.

Hashiro said water rates are likely to rise under his plan but added that he is looking at alternatives.

Hashiro wants to raise the Board of Water Supply’s current $40 million capital improvement budget to $200 million to $300 million per year over the next 12 to 15 years, which would require undetermined rate increases, Hashiro said.

Council members said they were concerned about adding to people’s financial burden.

"Would it be fair to say that our ratepayers, needless to say, are the same people who are paying an increase in the GET (general excise tax) to fund the rail project, the same people who are paying the additional sewer fees required to fund this sewer consent decree, that they will see the same corresponding escalating water rates over the next 12 to 15 years?" committee Chairman Stanley Chang asked Hashiro.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi suggested that Hashiro consider other ways to increase revenues, such as developing the Board of Water Supply’s employee parking lot off Beretania Street into a money-generating condominium.

"Have you looked at other ways to bring in revenue, rather than the taxpayers?" Kobayashi asked Hashiro. "The point is, because we have all these water mains that have to be replaced, rather than just burdening the taxpayer, look at other ways for the board to bring in revenue. That would help."

In an interview following the hearing, Hashiro emphasized that he likely will not make a proposal to the Board of Water Supply until the end of June or July.

The board ultimately would decide whether to raise the capital improvement budget and whether it would approve a rate increase to pay for it, Hashiro said.

The Board of Water Supply experiences an average of one water main break per day, Hashiro said.

With 2,000 miles of pressurized water line, Honolulu’s rate of repairs works out to 18 breaks per 100 miles of pipeline, Hashiro said.

The national average is 25 to 30 breaks per 100 miles of pipes, he said.

The relatively low rate of water main breaks in Honolulu is due primarily to an ambitious pipe replacement program in 2001 that laid 16 miles of new pipes, Hashiro said.

But this year, after replacing pumps and emergency generators, there is only enough money left from the $40 million capital improvement budget to replace one mile worth of pipes, spread around several project sites, Hashiro said.

He would like to average six miles of new pipes annually for each of the next six years. Eventually, he would like to see 30 miles of new pipes every year, in addition to replacing and refurbishing some of Oahu’s 170 reservoirs and replacing pumps and generators to keep the system functioning.

"If we don’t start replacing our system," Hashiro said, "sooner or later we’re going to be behind the national average. Our waterlines are all under pressure. It’s like continually blowing up a balloon. Sooner or later you’ll find a weak point and it will burst."

Hashiro acknowledged the gloomy economy and the burden on taxpayers but said pressurized water pipes in a salty environment will continue to deteriorate regardless of the economy.

"It’s whether you want to pay the piper now or later," Hashiro said. "We can pray that it doesn’t break, but it hasn’t worked for me yet."