The state Department of Land and Natural Resources plans to drill an exploratory water well on state land between the south and north folk of the Wailua River.
If the well is shown to produce a clean and constant source of drinking water, it will be turned over to the Kaua‘i County Water Department, a department official said.
The well, which DLNR officials hope will generate between 500,000 to million gallons of water daily, would help support freshwater drinking demands in East Kaua‘i, and could support development.
The well would augment the water department’s Water Plan 2020, a multi-million-dollar undertaking involving the strengthening and expansion of the island’s water system.
Should a productive well be turned over to the county, the water department would fund the improvements.
The exploratory drilling is scheduled to start in September 2004, and be completed in about a year. An estimated $1 million in state funds would be used for digging the well and conducting a pump test.
The exploratory digging would be done at about the 500 foot elevation of the Pu‘u A‘ahoaka area.
Should the exploratory well yield water that is not safe to drink, DLNR will order the capping of the site and may use it “for future monitoring purposes,” according to a OEQC report.
An alternate well site would then be explored.
Access to the exploratory well is provided by a former sugar cane haul road that branches off Ma‘alo Road in Kapaia. The road connects to a jeep trail that leads to the base of the Pu‘u ‘A‘ahoaka area.
An environmental assessment is being prepare for the exploratory digging.
If the test results are favorable and a decision is made to move forward with the well project to provide drinking water for island consumers, another environmental assessment will have to be done, according to the OEQC report.
The second study will cover the outfitting, installation of accessory facilities and production operations.
DLNR officials must obtain grubbing and grading permits from Kaua‘i County and approval from the Commission on Water Resource Management of the DLNR before the exploratory drilling project can start.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
