LIHU‘E — A break in a nearly 80-year-old agriculture water main dropped water pressure to the point that businesses stretching from Aloha Beach Resort in Wailua to Kukui Grove Center in Lihu‘e were forced to shut down yesterday. “Starbucks was
LIHU‘E — A break in a nearly 80-year-old agriculture water main dropped water pressure to the point that businesses stretching from Aloha Beach Resort in Wailua to Kukui Grove Center in Lihu‘e were forced to shut down yesterday.
“Starbucks was closed this morning, and we’ve only had two customers so far,” said Rose McMahon, a stylist with Regis Salon at Kukui Grove Center.
McMahon figures they lost nearly $1,000 in business Monday due to the break, which happened in front of the Coco Palms Resort on Kuhio Highway in Wailua, fouling traffic all through Kapa‘a.
The broken main pumps water from wells to tanks, which gravity-feed residences and businesses throughout the Coconut Coast area and Lihu‘e — considered the busiest part of the island.
“This is really bad,” McMahon said. “People don’t want to come in, probably because they’ve heard of the break.”
Repair crews were on scene from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and county Department of Water officials yesterday were asking area residents to limit their water use to indoor use only.
It was not the first time that that stretch of water main has broken. Nor will it be the last.
According to Kymm Solchaga, spokesperson for Kaua‘i’s Department of Water, the old main has broken at least five times already this year, and department officials have it high on the Water Plan 2020 (water long-range master plan) priority list.
“It’s one of the first things on the agenda to be fixed,” Solchaga said.
But that could take awhile, perhaps even years, Solchaga admitted, and will cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We can’t just go and dig it up because we can only work during certain times, and we’ve got to coordinate with all the other agencies,” Solchaga said.
Kaua‘i taxpayers will continue to be hard-hit by the costs of repairing the constantly breaking main, not to mention the costs for traffic control each time it breaks.
Meanwhile, businesses suffered yesterday as their customers were stalled in traffic, and limited water meant that heavy commercial users found themselves essentially dead in the water.
Some of Kukui Grove Center was closed for the day, and thirsty customers waited until nearly 1 p.m. before Jamba Juice re-opened.
Even the Lihu‘e circuit and family courts closed down, forcing people to arrange new court dates.
But some businesses took the whole thing in stride.
“It’s not until our guests return for the day, when everyone wants to shower, that we might have an issue,” said Rob Gunthner, general manager of the 350-room Radisson Kauai Beach Resort.
There are 51 water tanks gravity-feeding all Kaua‘i.
Phil Hayworth, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or phayworth@pulitzer.net.
