All’s well

KALAHEO — The temporary fix is over and water is flowing freely again.

The Department of Water announced Friday that Well No. 2 was restored and the water conservation request was lifted in Kalaheo at midnight on Thursday. 

Subsurface damage to a 1,000-foot long shaft in late May led to the loss of both wells that provide water to about 1,625 Kalaheo residents. DOW contractors continue to repair Kalaheo Well No. 1, which is expected to be online in the next two weeks. The total contract costs are estimated at $395,000, said DOW spokeswoman Kim Tamaoka.

Some locals said the situation they faced wasn’t bad, despite intermittent low water pressure and ongoing water outages.  

“Everyone has just been conserving and not watering the grass,” said Bruce Villinger, who lives on the bottom of the Kakela Makai development and was using water to pour concrete Thursday.

Bill Barnard lives on the top of the subdivision on Kakela Makai Drive, said to be the subdivision with the most water loss. Barnard said he and spouse Brenda used the temporary showers offered by the county at Vidinha Stadium and in Hanapepepe, and at other times showered at Poipu and Salt Pond beach parks. They conserved by waiting to wash larger loads of dishes and laundry. With more grass than most other homes in the subdivision, Barnard said they came through without having to run sprinklers because it rained nearly every night.

“It was never a disaster,” he said.

Papalina Road resident Clifton Sato said the outage was brief, but he kept both of his tubs sealed and filled with water just like preparing for a hurricane. His water pressure was 62 pounds on Friday. At the start of the outage he was getting 32 pounds and when everything is working it averages 70, he said.

“You can go get water from the buffalo, but you also have to flush that toilet and you need to hang on to so many containers,” Sato said.

Wayne George, co-owner of the Birdie’s Cafe, said the Kukuiolono Golf Course restaurant closed its doors as soon as the water was gone on the first day — and stayed closed for 10 days.

“Our water has been pretty good because they put that pump station there or we wouldn’t have had water for four to six weeks,” George said.

The problem for Birdies was the loss of business.

The county has since agreed to pay a bill for lost revenue, George said.

“It is picking up little by little but it has still has not caught up to what it was before the outage,” he added.

Lauren Brennan, who lives on the top of Puu Road, said she had low-water pressure at the very beginning but never lost her water.

“I lost water for about eight hours,” said Brad Goforth, who lives at the end of Ehu Road. “I didn’t feel affected at all but I tried to use less water.”

George Knox on Maka Road said the outage affected his home for about 10 days and required trips to the water buffalo to get water for dinner. 

“Once they put in that temporary line we didn’t have any problem at all,” said George Knox.

The DOW has since discontinued supplemental water service through its temporary low-capacity submersible pump, temporary pipeline and booster pump. The water buffalos and water tanker have also been removed from the residential area.

Kirk Saiki, DOW’s acting manager and chief engineer, thanked staff, contractors and county departments for working to restore Kalaheo’s water system.

“We would especially like to thank all Kalaheo residents and businesses for their extraordinary conservation efforts and their patience over the past six weeks while repairs were being made,” he said.