LIHU‘E — The county Department of Water will need up to three months to replace broken waterlines in Hanalei and Kapahi that were damaged beyond repair in the Nov. 14 flooding, a department spokeswoman said Monday. Total damages to the
LIHU‘E — The county Department of Water will need up to three months to replace broken waterlines in Hanalei and Kapahi that were damaged beyond repair in the Nov. 14 flooding, a department spokeswoman said Monday.
Total damages to the water system were estimated at nearly $900,000, according to Department of Water public relations specialist Faith Shiramizu.
“Both Hanalei and Kapahi, we took immediate action to isolate those broken pipelines … so it wouldn’t cause anymore problems,” she said. “Both were beyond repair, both were not functioning properly and both need to be replaced.”
The Maka Ridge well and an 8-inch Hanalei River pipeline will end up costing the county $500,000, according to a Department of Water document provided Monday.
The response to the pipeline break and surface water infiltration as well as temporary and permanent repair of pipeline and a tunnel flow meter in Kapa‘a will cost $350,000.
Assorted other repairs, some completed and some ongoing, will cost another $26,000 for a grand total of $876,000, according to DOW figures.
Deputy Department Manager Bill Eddy reported that the initial electrical control problem with the Hanalei pump that led to water outages has been rectified but the secondary source, which brought water from Princeville, has been valved off, Shiramizu said.
She said some residents, including farmers, may be “experiencing lower pressure because we need to get all of their water from one source as opposed to two” and asked that everyone “be mindful of how much water they’re using.”
Eddy is “pushing these projects to try to get completed within three months, by late February,” she said. “That’s a really quick pace.”
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com.
