LIHU‘E — County Department of Water projects to construct facilities to store or move drinking water are reimbursable from a low-interest state loan fund for drinking water, according to the DOW projects list. The DOW projects budget tops $100 million,
LIHU‘E — County Department of Water projects to construct facilities to store or move drinking water are reimbursable from a low-interest state loan fund for drinking water, according to the DOW projects list.
The DOW projects budget tops $100 million, which is more than the combined budget lists of the other three counties in Hawai‘i, said David Craddick, DOW manager and chief engineer.
The largest single amount on the list is $12 million, for “high level water.” Craddick said this is a ways down the road, and will involve energy savings from developing a water source at high inland elevation, and using gravity to bring the water to users.
The $12 million is basically for drilling the hole, with very little construction involved, he said Monday.
Many, but not all, of the projects on the list, which is nearly two pages long, will be funded via a $60 million bond authorized by the county Board of Water Supply.
The bond float needs approval of the county administration and County Council, and will be submitted along with other county bond issuances, in order to lower issuance costs and get the best-possible interest rates, said Craddick.
Another high-ticket item on the project list is $6.25 million — although Craddick said the final figure might be a bit lower than that — for acquisition of Grove Farm’s Waiahi water-treatment plant.
Craddick said negotiations are ongoing, and it hasn’t been determined if the county will need to purchase the land the plant is on, or just the plant itself.
The plant currently delivers around 2 million gallons of water to DOW per day, and can provide up to 4 million gpd, said Michael Tresler, Grove Farm vice president. He was before the Board of Water Supply last week seeking approval of plans to expand the plant from its current capacity of four million gpd to nearly 6.5 million gpd.
Craddick’s report requested board approval of Grove Farm’s expansion request, but the board did not approve the request, opting because of contract ambiguities and opinion differences to recommend Grove Farm and DOW leaders sit down together to resolve those issues, Craddick said.
Depending on how those negotiations come out, county purchase of the facility may allow avoidance of some water rate increases, he said.
Kaua‘i Builders has been awarded two tank-construction projects totaling over $11 million, which are or may be eligible for the state drinking-water loan fund, and O‘ahu-based Belt Collins Hawai‘i has $10 million in DOW contracts, including pipe replacement in Lihu‘e and Nawiliwili and a new tank in Kapahi.
Another O‘ahu-based company, SSFM Engineers, won $10 million in two DOW contracts for tunnel repairs. Honolulu-based R.M. Towill, which holds another county contract for around $50,000 to facilitate the landfill public meetings and council briefing, holds a $6 million DOW contract to replace a Wailua Houselots water main.
Several Kaua‘i contractors, including the North Shore’s Wagner Engineering Services, Kodani and Associates, Koga Engineers and Esaki Surveying and Mapping, have won county contracts, and an estimated $4.6 million contract for a Kapa‘a pipeline project is expected to go out to bid next month, according to the revised DOW projects list.
