Water preparedness for extended power outages

The Department of Water Supply, County of Hawai‘i, requires a significant amount of dependable electricity to move approximately 25 million gallons of water each day and deliver it to more than 45,000 homes, businesses, farms and community facilities located throughout much of Hawai‘i Island. 

Hawaiian Electric mentioned in its Nov. 3 news release regarding their Wildfire Safety Strategy, “If a fault or disturbance is detected on a circuit, power lines in risk areas shut off automatically until crews visually confirm that it is safe to restore power. This may result in longer outages in some areas, including outages that last overnight.”

The Department of Water Supply utilizes backup generators at key well sites to help maintain a limited amount of water service during temporary power outages, however, an extended power outage could leave portions of the Department of Water Supply’s water systems empty and customers with no water.

Should this scenario be anticipated, the Department of Water Supply will instruct its affected customers to use their tap water only for drinking, cooking and hygiene purposes to preserve the limited amount of available potable water.  Irrigation, car washing and non-essential uses of water would be suspended until power is restored.

The Department of Water Supply strongly urges its customers and those who depend on a continuous supply of Department of Water Supply water to review their personal situations and prepare accordingly.

Customers should have alternate sources of potable water and enough supply to meet their essential needs during a prolonged power outage that disrupts Department of Water Supply service. Ways to safely store drinking water are listed in the Water Emergency Preparedness guide available under the “Community” drop-down menu option on the Department’s website, www.hawaiidws.org. 

Updated messaging will be posted at www.hawaiidws.org and on the Department of Water Supply Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HawaiiDWS/.  To reach the Department of Water Supply, please call 808-961-8050 during normal business hours, 808-961-8790 for after-hour emergencies, or email: dws@hawaiidws.org.