Aloha Oahu Restaurateur!

In an effort preserve and protect Oahu's finite water resources, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS) adopted a rule, effective January 1, 1992, prohibiting automatic serving of water to customers at Oahu restaurants. The rule reads as follows:

The Department (Board of Water Supply) shall restrict the serving of drinking water to any customer unless expressly requested at any restaurant, hotel, café or cafeteria, or any other place where food is sold, served, or offered for sale.  These restrictions shall not apply to catered groups of 25 or more people.  Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the imposition of a fifty-dollar ($50.00) special assessment for each violation, or in the discontinuation of water service and/or penalties as authorized in Section 2-205, 2b and Section 5-501 of these Rules and Regulations.

We ask for your kokua in reminding your staff and customers of this regulation.  Under the rule, staff may serve water upon request or may ask the customer if they want to be served a glass of water. 

We sincerely appreciate your efforts to help us conserve water while saving money on your water and sewer bill!  As you know, every glass of water served in a restaurant requires another two glasses of water to wash and rinse the glass.   

To assist you in your efforts to comply with this rule, the BWS has produced table tents available to download and print by clicking here. (Note: When printing table tents, ensure that printer settings are not set to default setting "Fit to Printer Margins."  Final dimensions of table tents are 4.5 inches by 7.25 inches.)

Or submit completed Water Upon Request Table Tent Order Forms to contactus@hbws.org.

This water-service-on-request rule helps everyone play an important part in the continuing effort to preserve the precious natural resources of our beautiful island.

Mahalo for your cooperation!