by John Burnett
Temporary well may bring turbid water
If county water users in the Honokaa area notice a difference in their tap water — such as murkiness or chlorine odor or taste — it’s because the pump at the Haina well has broken down and an alternative well had to be tapped.
“As of this morning it failed fully, so we have zero output,” Keith Okamoto, the county’s Water Quality Assurance Branch chief, said Thursday afternoon. “… More than likely it’s something to do with the motor.”
It’s not the first pump breakdown at the Haina well, the only county well serving Honokaa, Ahualoa, Kalopa, Pohakea, upper Paauilo and Kukuihaele. Hamakua residents were placed on a 25-percent water restriction in August 2007 following a pump failure.
At that time, the county had to truck in water from Paauilo. Okamoto said the county has been doing the same thing since early this week, when it became apparent that the Haina pump was failing again.
“Every several years we do have some problems with that well,” Okamoto said. He said that Honokaa water users shouldn’t have noticed any difference in water quality or pressure as of Thursday afternoon.