LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Planning Commission on Tuesday gave the County Department of Water the green light to proceed with drilling for an exploratory well and with the construction of two half-million-gallon concrete water tanks in Kapahi. “We have a
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Planning Commission on Tuesday gave the County Department of Water the green light to proceed with drilling for an exploratory well and with the construction of two half-million-gallon concrete water tanks in Kapahi.
“We have a deficit in terms of (water) storage, that’s why we are proposing two half-million-gallon reservoirs on the site,” said Glen Koyama, representing the DOW. Also, the projected demand calls for the new facility, he said.
The tanks will be built on a parcel at the intersection of Ka‘apuni and Kawaihau roads.
“One of the main reasons for needing that storage there is to serve some existing critical customers,” said DOW Deputy Manager Bill Eddy, adding that those customers include the Mahelona Hospital, and Kapa‘a High and Elementary schools.
The permit to drill the exploratory well, however, did not flow easily among commissioners. Some of their main concerns were a possible contamination of the water in the area, due to chemicals used in the former pineapple plantation seeping into the ground; and also if farming activities would be affected by potential additional regulations imposed on farmers if the well turns out to be productive.
“I guess I’m more focused on the right to farm,” Commissioner Wayne Takayama said.
The Yamamoto family had been farming the nearby lands for three generations. Attorney Sherman Shiraishi, representing the Yamamotos, said his client was willing to live with some of the nuisances, and would even hang a picture of a waterfall in the living room to match the sound of the water running into the cement tanks.
But the real concern was how much certain regulations for clean water would affect the Yamamotos’ farming activities, which Shiraishi said are done following current and strict government regulations.
In order to protect the farmers, a condition added to the permits states that the DOW activity in the area should not limit or prevent intensive agricultural use in the adjacent lands.
Koyama said the DOW was OK with the new condition, and Shiraishi said the condition addresses the concerns of his client.
Koyama said the well is only exploratory, and if there is sufficient ground water, the DOW would turn it into a production well, which would need a whole new set of permits.
Eddy said the drilling of the well will include testing of the water.
“We will have to test that water extensively in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Eddy said. “ We won’t know conclusively if that water at that location is safe until we drill the well and we do the testing.”
He said there is a “real long list” of chemicals the DOW tests in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Koyama said that in case the findings come out negative, the well would be capped and abandoned.
The DOW would then look for water in the area before exhausting options and looking for it elsewhere, he said.
In either case the water would still be piped into the new concrete tanks, Koyama said.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
