DWS apologizes for emergency water shutoff before Thanksgiving

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Department of Water Supply issued an apology Tuesday to Hawaii Island customers who was affected by an emergency water shutoff the day before Thanksgiving.
Residents in the Lakeland Subdivision of Waimea were without water for much of the day last Wednesday.
DWS said although it wasn’t ideal timing, the emergency water shutoff was needed to prevent a main break.
“Implementing a water shutoff right before a major holiday was not ideal timing. However, it was determined that there was a high risk of a main break, possibly on Thanksgiving day and for an unknown duration. The Department decided that it would be prudent and less disruptive to do an emergency, proactive repair than risk an outage on Thanksgiving day,” DWS said in a statement.
The department added that they usually plan repair work during times that are least disruptive, but it was not possible in the case.
“DWS announced the shutoff via a news release, social media posts, and on its website early on Tuesday afternoon, but information of the shutoff did not reach some affected water customers who lost service the following day while preparing holiday meals. DWS regrets it was unable to provide all customers with advanced notice of the shutoff and plans to better inform customers of emergency work affecting their water service,” the statement read.
DWS is considering on deploying electronic message boards in the future.
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