Main break prompts plea for water conservation
By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Residents from Red Hill to Hawai'i Kai have been asked to eliminate all non-essential water use until repairs are completed on a main transmission line that supplies an estimated 15 percent of metropolitan Honolulu's water.
Board of Water Supply carpenter Jesse Pagala helps shore up the sides of the hole before welders start work on the water-main break on Moanalua Road.
"We appeal to everyone in the Honolulu metropolitan area to use water for essential needs only, at least for the next 24-hour period," said Honolulu Board of Water Supply manager and chief engineer Clifford Jamile yesterday afternoon.
Crews worked all day yesterday and through the night on the 36-inch main, on Moanalua Road in Waimalu.
Three of four lanes on Moanalua Road between Ka'ahumanu and Ka'ahele streets were closed for the duration of the repair work.
A leak was detected in the large main Monday night, forcing police to close two lanes of Wai'anae-bound traffic on Moanalua Road. The pipe transports 12 million gallons of water daily from the Punanani wells to distribution lines and reservoirs serving the metropolitan Honolulu area.
The 20-mile stretch from Red Hill to Hawai'i Kai constitutes the city's urban core; it is a densely populated area containing the bulk of O'ahu's residents.
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| Several lanes of traffic were closed or diverted after the incident.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The board asks that all car washing, irrigation and other nonessential water activities be stopped until further notice.
BWS spokeswoman Denise DeCosta said the last request of this magnitude to restrict water use was about 10 years ago, during the drought of the early 1990s.
DeCosta said that if the request to conserve water isn't observed, residents could wake up today to low water pressure. She said those in highrises would be the first to feel the impact.
