KAILUA-KONA — The Hawaii County Department of Water Supply hoped by Monday to return 2 million gallons of water per day back to the short-handed North Kona water system.
KAILUA-KONA — The Hawaii County Department of Water Supply hoped by Monday to return 2 million gallons of water per day back to the short-handed North Kona water system.
After a significant setback over the weekend, those hopes now lie dashed alongside a new pump and motor — both likely damaged from the mishap — more than 1,700 feet underground at the bottom of the Waiaha Deepwell.
There is no timeline for when the well might again be operational.
“I don’t expect it in the near future at all,” said Keith Okamoto, DWS manager and chief engineer. “But it’s too early to tell how many months or whatever (it will be).”
Waiaha, one of four downed deepwells in the 13-source North Kona system, was on schedule to return to service on Monday, a goal the department long felt attainable.
The recently ordered pump and motor were installed by Derrick’s Well Drilling and Pump Services on Wednesday. Following its initial startup on Thursday, the well “tripped on over current condition,” according to a release by DWS.
In other words, it malfunctioned. Workers on site began troubleshooting and determined the problem originated “down-hole.”
“The contractor proceeded with extracting the pipe column to eventually get out the pump and motor,” Okamoto explained. “Then Saturday morning, the cable on the rig broke, so that whole assembly dropped back down into the well.”
The assembly Okamoto referenced consists of the pump, the motor, the majority of the column pipe and the power cable.
Okamoto said representatives from Derrick’s Well Drilling were back at the site Monday. In situations like the one at the Waiaha Deepwell, the first step is to send a camera down the well to capture video that helps to assess the situation.
Derrick’s employees are currently trying to create a tool to replace their lifting cable, which will allow them to “fish out” the equipment. Okamoto said often such tools must be manufactured.
“It has to clamp on to the pipe somehow and have enough strength to pull it up out of the hole,” he said.
The owner of Derrick’s Well Drilling was off-island and could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Though the pump and motor have yet to be visually inspected, Okamoto said he’s all but certain they suffered damage because of the cable break. Once extracted, they will need to be repaired or new equipment must be manufactured — a process that takes months.
“It is pretty much almost certain that the motor is damaged and subsequently the pump,” he said. “I cannot imagine it not being damaged.”
New parts, if necessary, would cost DWS hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, because the equipment appeared to malfunction before the cable break, it may be covered by a manufacturer warranty. But the problem wasn’t identified before the cable break, which Okamoto said almost assuredly caused more damage, so whether new equipment would be covered by the warranty remains unclear.
“We’ll need to review the situation in further detail before we can comment on warranty or responsibility of costs,” Okamoto said.
Mayor Harry Kim was disappointed when he heard the news over the weekend but didn’t assign blame to DWS or Derrick’s Well Drilling. He chalked it up instead to staggering misfortune.
“The first thing my mind quietly said was, ‘Is this a joke?’” Kim said Monday. “The bad luck is unbelievable. It’s like buying 10 new cars and all of the sudden three or four of them go out on you, which isn’t supposed to happen.”
The mandatory 25 percent water usage reduction for North Kona, which has been active since January, remains in effect. Even if the well at Waiaha had returned to functional status Monday, DWS would not have lifted that usage restriction.
No increased restrictions have been issued for the area. Assuming no other wells go down, no new or intensified restrictions are expected.
The setback does put North Kona back on the brink of increased restrictions, however. A fifth well went down for roughly a week at the beginning of July, prompting DWS to mandate the halting of all nonessential irrigation practices, the largest strain on water stores.
DWS discussed at the time possible procedures for strategic water disruptions, if such action proved necessary. Kim said it was compliance with the mandatory restriction from some of North Kona’s largest water consumers, as well as the community at large, that allowed everyone’s water to stay on. He said Monday he is hopeful those customers will maintain the same vigilance moving forward.
Repairs to the other three downed wells in the area remain on schedule, Okamoto said, and all are expected to return to service by the end of the year or sooner.