Erwin Kawata

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Erwin Kawata was appointed as Deputy Manager of the Board of Water Supply as of October 16, 2022. In this capacity, he will oversee the Department’s internal operations, with a focus on the agency’s divisions that are directly involved with the source, storage, treatment, transmission, and distribution of water to ensure the sustainability of Oahu’s water resources and infrastructure.

Mr. Kawata joined the BWS as a Chemist II in June 1982 and steadily worked his way up to management level. He was promoted to his current position from his previous BWS position as Program Administrator of the department’s Water Quality Division.

There, he was responsible for drinking water testing, water treatment, and regulatory compliance of the Board’s water sources, treatment and distribution systems. He was also responsible for the department’s cross connection control and backflow prevention program, compliance with all environmental rules and regulations that apply to BWS, research studies to identify potential environmental hazards that could impact the department’s water resources and systems, the development of treatment systems to remove contaminants from drinking water and other special research programs.

During this time, Kawata played an instrumental part in and spearheaded the BWS’s prudent response to the Navy’s fuel leaks at Red Hill. This included efforts to locate new water supply wells, investigate water treatment for the removal of fuel contaminants and establish new monitoring wells to detect the movement of fuel contamination.

Kawata was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a certificate in Public Administration. Kawata is a member of the American Water Works Association, American Chemical Society, and the Water Environment Federation.