COUNTY’S KUALAPUU WELL ON MOLOKAI OPERATIONAL

The County of Maui announced this afternoon that the Kualapuu well is now operational and pumping water at a rate of 800 gallons per minute to the one million gallon Kaunakakai holdingtank.

Mahalo Moloka'i - sign posted along roadside in Molokai. Photo Courtesy: County of Maui.

The County temporarily used a well belonging to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to fill the Kaunakakai holding tank while repairs to the County’s Kualapuu well were completed.

Molokai crews from the Department of Water Supply and Department of Public Works, along with crews flown in from Maui’s Water Department and the contractor, Beylik Drilling and Pumping, Inc., worked for 9 days to help avoid what county officials called, “a potentially disastrous situation.” Since July 17, residents and businesses were asked to severely limit their non-essential water use in an effort to maintain the limited amount of water available in the holding tank.

Of critcal importance was keeping water supplies available for the Molokai General Hospital and the dialysis center as well as fire hydrants in Kaunakakai and Kalae.

The County positioned two water tankers at the Kaunakakai regional park so people would not deplete the already low level of water in the holding tank.

Most of Molokai’s 28 dialysis patients were temporarily relocated off island because of the risk of not having water required to run dialysis treatment equipment. All patients have since returned to Molokai.

(Posted by Wendy Osher, Information and placeholder images provided by the County of Maui, Public Information Office)