County Water adding on to Coastview costs?

Mr. Milton Pavao
Manager
Department of Water Supply
345 Kekuanao’a St., #200
Hilo, HI 96720

April 12, 2006

Dear Mr. Pavao:

I am writing to you regarding the Kona Coastview/Wonderview Subdivisions Improvement District. My concern is the additional cost that has been added to the water system by County planners for present and future subdivision interconnections and that these additional costs are being passed on to the 437 assessed owners of Coastview/Wonderview.
During the construction phase of the water system I witnessed the installation of a large main pipeline running from Ahikawa Street in Coastview along Nana Street and connecting to the Ashikawa subdivision off Holo Holo Street in Palisades. This line is many times larger that needed to service the one house at the end of Nana Street. When this matter was brought to the attention of Shari Komata, DWS, she replied to Susan McGeachy:

“Dear Mrs. McGeachy,The Department may interconnect waterlines where it is possible so that wemay provide better water service to our customers, especially in times wherewe may need to shut-off water to do repairs. By interconnecting thewaterlines it allows the Department to continue to service an area withoutinterruption and/or cause minimal disruption to a particular water system. Other subdivisions that will be connected to the Kona Coastview/WonderviewWater System Improvements are subdivisions already established with countywater and the connections will enhance water service to all subdivisions.As for Mr. Ashikawa's subdivision, we will be connecting to his subdivisionwith this project; however, he is already being serviced from the PalisadesSubdivision as he has paid for his own infrastructure and applicable fees.Sincerely,Shari KomataDepartment of Water Supply”

While I agree that the interconnections make sense from a redundancy and maintenance standpoint I most certainly do not agree that the Coastview/Wonderview residents should pay for the costs of these interconnections. As far as I know, the plans for these interconnections were never discussed with the Coastview/Wonderview residents. I am aware of the interconnection that runs along Nana Street but I now question how many more exist and what was the additional cost to the system. What would have been a one or two inch pipe to serve a house or two on a side street has been increased to a six or eight inch main plus the valve. These additions, at the request of DWS, were added to the system without consultation and approval of the owners of the system and those owners should be compensated with an apology and a rebate.

Sincerely,

Peter Hain
73-1066 Ahikawa Street
Kailua Kona, HI 96740

Cc:

Mr. Angel Pilago, County Council
Mr. George Wilkins, Water Board
Shari Komata, DWS
Susan McGeachy, Kona Coastview