KAILUA-KONA — North Kona has been without four of its 14 water sources for months, but the county Department of Water Supply thinks it will revise that ratio in the coming days.
“Honokohau deep well is currently undergoing repairs, and we are tentatively looking at returning the well to service by the end of October,” said Nyssa Kushi, spokesperson for DWS, in an email Wednesday.
The well at Honokohau is considered an anchor well in the system, boasting a capacity of 1 million gallons and geographically situated to pump water north and south throughout the region. It has also been one of the department’s most troubled sites, failing once in 2015, again in August 2017 and most recently in March.
Deep wells at Waiaha, Hualalai and Palani remain offline. However, bids to clean the Waiaha well, confirm its capacity and assess its current condition by way of a gyroscopic alignment survey are due today.
“The results will determine how to proceed on the subsequent installation of a production pump and motor,” Kushi wrote.
Waiaha has been out of operation since summer 2017, when deep well equipment was lost after a cable snapped during extraction.
DWS expects survey work to commence at Waiaha by the end of the year. Currently, there are no firm timelines for the start or completion of work on deep wells at Hualalai and Palani.
Email Max Dible at mdible@westhawaiitoday.com.