KAILUA-KONA — North Kona has been plagued by water woes for the better part of nine months, leading to mandatory usage restrictions throughout the region and a host of questions about the management of public water resources.
KAILUA-KONA — North Kona has been plagued by water woes for the better part of nine months, leading to mandatory usage restrictions throughout the region and a host of questions about the management of public water resources.
Now, a private water provider in North Kohala is experiencing similar issues.
The Kohala Ranch Water Company confirmed Monday that both wells it operates went down last Thursday. The two wells are privately owned and subject to regulations set by the state Public Utilities Commission. They combine to serve approximately 400 customers throughout several North Kohala developments, including Kohala Ranch, Kohala Estates, Kohala by the Sea, Kohala Waterfront and Kohala Kai.
As of yet, there is no timetable for the return to service of either well.
Bill Moore, who helps manage operations at KRWC, said more should be known once the faulty equipment is hauled out of the 1,400-foot deep wells — a process he added was expected to be complete by Monday night or sometime this morning.
“We will do an assessment then and figure out what our schedule is going to be,” he explained Monday afternoon.
Moore went on to say that despite occurring on the same day, the incidents of well failure in North Kohala were not connected. The company was running only one well for some time, which Moore said was sufficient to serve the area’s needs, as each well has the capacity to pump about 1 million gallons per day.
KRWC previously chose to take the second well offline after learning the equipment was problematic. In the meantime, a backup pump and motor were ordered for that well and are on the island.
When the operational well that KRWC was running failed Thursday, the company attempted to start up the well it previously shut down.
“We tried to operate the other well as a backup, and that equipment that we knew was problematic failed,” Moore said.
Preparations to install the backup equipment KRWC already procured are underway, Moore said. As soon as the faulty equipment is brought up, that process can begin.
Public meets private
The situation in North Kohala is connected to North Kona and the county Department of Water Supply in two ways. The first involves repairs at the Hualalai deep well, which DWS was hopeful it could bring back online sometime this week.
DWS discovered a motor intended for Hualalai had a small oil leak. The department secured a replacement, which it was ready to install as soon as last week. But then the two private wells in North Kohala went down.
“The urgent situation at Kohala Ranch required the contractor to (demobilize) his rig from our site to use there,” Keith Okamoto, DWS manager and chief engineer, wrote in an email Monday. “We’re still waiting to see how long he’ll be there. In the meantime, we’re working with him to see if his rig on another island can be shipped to be used on our Kona wells.”
The setback in Kohala derailed the goals Okamoto outlined last week during an emergency meeting of the Hawaii County Water Board, during which he detailed his hopes to bring Hualalai back online this week and Palani back online next week.
“We won’t have a well back online this week,” Okamoto continued. “(I’m) not sure about the following week either at this point. We’re still pushing to have at least one, if not two wells, running before Ironman.”
The Ironman World Championship takes place Oct. 14. Palani was originally scheduled to return to service Oct. 30, while Hualalai’s return date was initially set for Nov. 26.
Some members of the community have expressed concern that the increase of visitors may cause water usage issues if five of North Kona’s 13 wells remain down as the race approaches. However, Okamoto previously said water usage hasn’t traditionally spiked in October.
DWS serves the public, while the wells managed by KRWC are private. However, despite North Kona’s months-long plight, the area’s 11,000 accounts are still serviced by eight functional wells. Water levels have remained consistent under substantial water usage restrictions and community cooperation.
The situation for far fewer accounts in North Kohala serviced by KRWC is more dire simply because the system has no redundancies, which is the second connection between those private wells and the county’s public water system.
The two wells KRWC manages serve 400 accounts, all of which are now reliant solely on water being trucked 24 hours a day from county water stores to KRWC’s reservoir. DWS also loaned KRWC two 400-gallon water trucks.
Moore said the trucking began Friday once the company realized what was going on. But that realization didn’t come soon enough, and the risks of delayed action were made apparent soon after.
“Thursday night, when we didn’t have water, everybody’s irrigation system came on and it just drained our system completely,” Moore said. “So we had about half our customers without water.”
The loss of water for roughly 200 accounts lasted less than a day and severe water restrictions for the affected accounts now are in place.
“(Customers) are on mandatory conservation and we can’t support irrigation,” Moore said. “People are still able to get service through their water system, but it’s very limited. According to my last conversation, everyone has enough water for minimal domestic purposes.”
KRWC has been keeping its customers updated through email blasts and by way of its community association website at www.kohalaranchhawaii.com.
Regan Matsumura, a long-time resident of Kohala Ranch, said he started receiving communications Friday.
“We were told to be mindful to conserve water,” he explained. “And I thought it was a joke because we’re not in North Kona.”
So far, Matsumura said he hasn’t seen anyone irrigating, but several properties are set back and it would be hard to notice either way without investigating.
He also noted several property owners served by the downed KRWC wells who don’t live in Hawaii year round. Many of those people have manicured landscapes sprawling acres, which Matsumura said look like “oasis parks” and “consume a lot of water.” Their irrigation systems are often automatic.
“That’s the wild card, I guess,” he said. “But I’m thinking if everybody does what they’re told, then the trucked water is going to come, everything is going to be fine and we’ll get through this thing. Hopefully it won’t be as long as North Kona, but we’ll get through this thing.”
Email Max Dible at mdible@westhawaiitoday.com.