Public alerted to water soliciting

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Residents of at least two neighborhoods on O'ahu are suspicious that a door-to-door campaign soliciting water samples and information about home occupants may be something other than what it seems.

Honolulu police say anyone who is contacted by the campaign should call them.

"It sounds like a scam to me," said Mary Jane McMurdo, who found the "sample bottle" and a questionnaire attached to her doorknob on Old Pali Road. "I took one look at this and said: This looks phony. It could be anything."

The instructions that came with the bottle told her to fill it with tap water for sampling and to complete a questionnaire that asked about the occupants of the house, including their names and ages.

The questionnaire also asked at what times residents could be found at home, and instructed them to put the bottle and questionnaire back on their doorknobs.

Denise DeCosta, spokeswoman from the Board of Water Supply, said yesterday she had been getting calls about the solicitation and wanted to make it clear that the water board was not associated with it.

The Board of Water Supply has recently sent customer satisfaction surveys in the mail, but is not involved in a door to door survey. The water board routinely samples water, but is able to do so without entering individual homes.

DeCosta said that residents who receive the solicitation should call police, a suggestion echoed by Lt. S. Salanoa of the Police Department criminal investigation unit.

"They need to call 911 and get the police out there to find out what is going on," Salanoa said. "Anytime they see something suspicious they should be calling 911."

McMurdo said she found a section of "very small print" on the package that was left on her door, saying that the solicitation was not associated with the city water program or with the Health Department. The information did not give the name of the business that was collecting the information and did not provide a telephone number.

Faith Seguirant, Neighborhood Security Watch area coordinator for the Wai'alae Nui Valley area near Kahala Mall, said she first learned of the solicitation from a neighborhood watch block captain, who also found the situation suspicious.

The captain, who lives on Akiaki Place, a secluded dead-end street, said a neighbor had found a questionnaire and a request for a water sample hanging on her front door Friday evening. The captain advised the neighbor not to respond.

Later that evening, a man came to the block captain's property, asking her to complete the survey and then asking if he could go into her house to collect a water sample, Seguirant said.

The block captain offered a sample from the outdoor faucet. The man refused, insisting that it had to be taken from inside the house.

The block coordinator ordered the man off her property. She reported that he was of medium height and build, with his hair and eyes covered by a hat and dark glasses.

Seguirant said she notified other block captains of the man's presence and learned that he had made a visit to at least one other dead-end street in her neighborhood.

Seguirant said she is advising residents to avoid giving the man any information. She said she told them not to let him into the house and to call police if he approaches them.

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.