Neighbor Island briefs

Adveriser Staff and News Service

KAUA'I

Man charged in stabbing

Police have charged Mark E. Vargas with attempted murder in the stabbing Saturday of a 59-year-old Kekaha, Kaua'i, man.

The victim was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where he is in critical condition.

Vargas, 47, who is wanted on an attempted murder charge and other counts in California, is being held at the Wailua jail. Police said he and the victim had argued over a debt.

Driver dies after crash

A 44-year-old Kapa'a, Kaua'i, man has died as the result of a traffic accident Nov. 2 on Kuhio Highway near Kealia Road.

Police said Paul Alvarado was driving a car that was following a truck about 5:15 p.m.

Police said the car appeared to be trying to pass the truck as it made a left turn. Alvarado's car hit the truck and then rammed a utility pole.

Kaua'i well reopens with carbon filters

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Department of Water has installed two carbon filters on its Wailua Homesteads Well A, which was contaminated with mercury.

Water Department manager Ernest Lau said the filters reduce the mercury in the water to non-detectable levels. The well has been placed back in service.

Two Wailua wells were shut down in early 1999 after Health Department tests showed they were contaminated with mercury, apparently as the result of leaking seals in submersible pumps.

The pumps have been replaced with units that do not use mercury-containing seals.

Well B was placed back in service after cleanup measures removed all detectable traces of mercury.

The Water Department installed two 20,000-pound granulated activated carbon filter systems on Well A, a $658,000 project.

Lau said the water entering the filters has mercury levels of from 1.5 to 46 parts per billion, but the filters are removing all detectable mercury. The cleaned water is flowing into the Wailua-Kapa'a water system.