Work will begin Monday to repair a force main break on Alii Drive that sent nearly 20,000 gallons of sewage onto the roadway and into Kailua Bay on Saturday morning.
Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management Wastewater Division Superintendent Alika DeMello said
The repairs on the Keopu force main, being performed by West Hawaii Sewer Maintenance, will take three to five days for the initial break, said Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management Wastewater Division Superintendent Alika DeMello. The company will also be conducting a line inspection and replacing more pipe if necessary, which would result in longer repair time.
Traffic will not be impacted on Alii Drive, however, DeMello said.
The sewer force main break Saturday morning discharged approximately 20,000 gallons of untreated sewage onto the street. Crews were able to quickly divert the sewage to a different pump station, but it remains unknown just how much sewage actually entered the bay prompting the state to warn the public of contaminated water.
Department of Health spokesperson Janice Okubo on Wednesday said water quality samples at Kailua Bay were taken by County of Hawaii officials beginning on Saturday and continued through Wednesday with “very low levels of bacteria” found on Saturday and Sunday.
Okubo said the department’s staff also conducted water sampling earlier this week. On Wednesday, the department canceled the water advisory and gave the all-clear for people to use the bay.
The nearly 60-year-old, 6-inch cast iron pipes at the force mains located at Palani Road, Emma Square and Hale Halawai along Alii Drive in Kailua Village were already slated to be replaced starting next month.
The first replacement will be to the Lanihau force main on Palani Road at a cost of nearly $1 million. JW Glover won the contract and is set to begin work on that project the first week of August. Traffic will be contraflowed to accommodate construction.
The Keopu and Hale Halawai force mains will also be replaced, however, DeMello said it will take approximately three to five years to fund, design, bid, award, and complete construction. He estimated the cost to be approximately $1.5 million to $2 million each.
Rate payers ultimately pay for the projects via the county’s capital improvement project fund or the Wastewater Division operating account.
After repair work is completed on the Keopu force main, the county’s sewer maintenance crew will begin work on the gravity sewer pipes along Alii Drive from Hualalai Road to the pier. DeMello said cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) will be used to reinforce clay pipes, sealing any cracks.
Using CIPP will save the county a substantial amount of money over replacing the line, said Department of Environmental Management Director Bill Kucharski. CIPP costs $250 per foot versus $1,250 per foot for a contractor to replace the pipes.
In addition, the road does not needs to be torn up as the work can be done via existing manholes.
“The repair and replacement of our sewer collection system in Kona is a continuing process,” said Kucharski. “It is a result of many years of minimal funding which has started to be remedied by the first sewer fee increase in over 10 years.”
Kucharski said the department is trying to catch up and trying to repair and replace the aged system.
“This work cannot be done overnight and there will be years of work ahead, and having said that, progress, however slow it might appear, is happening,” he said.
Kucharski added workers at sewer plants here in Kona and across the county have very critical, essential yet dirty jobs.
“In my opinion, they are some of our most underappreciated county employees. I do want to acknowledge that they are truly the heroes because when ‘flush and forget’ happens it is only because they are there every day, doing what few people choose to do,” he said. “Their hard work deserves everyone’s thanks.”