This year’s exceptional drought is driving up the cost of living in the Big Island’s parched Kau desert.
Many people in the Ocean View subdivisions live removed from the county water supply system, relying instead on rainwater catchment systems.
Trouble is, there’s been precious little rain.
So residents have been forced to replenish their catchment tanks more often, some paying up to $350 a month to have water hauled from the nearest fill station, 14 miles away in Naalehu.
The final phase of a $6 million project to bring county water to the area is slated to begin this month but is not scheduled for completion until next summer.