Kula residents wonder when water will be safe | News, Sports, Jobs

A volunteer grabs a package of water bottles in Lahaina on Aug. 15. Many residents in Lahaina and upper Kula still remain under unsafe water advisories and are advised to use bottled water for things like drinking and brushing teeth. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

KULA — Isa Shipley is among the many people Upcountry asking when the water will be safe to drink again.

The chief operating officer of Kula Lodge shouted out the question during a standing-room only meeting on Thursday night, pointing out that she’s had to temporarily lay off 68 employees this week at her business, which has no customers and no reopening date.

“I wish I could give you an answer, but I don’t want to give you an answer that is going to be wrong,” Maui County Department of Water Supply Director John Stufflebean said. “So I’m going to tell you we are going to have to do continual testing, we don’t know what the results are going to be. When we find the results, that may lead until additional testing or it may lead to the point that we can say now we can open it up. It could be a couple of weeks, it could be hopefully not longer, but we don’t know.”

Stufflebean said the area around Kula Lodge may take longer than others to be cleared from the advisory.

Homes near Kula Lodge along Kulalani Drive and at the intersection of Nunu Place and Kulamanu Circle were some of those destroyed by fire. Around 19 homes Upcountry were lost to the fires that were first reported Aug. 8.

Residents pack the Kula Community Center on Thursday night to learn more about the unsafe water advisory issued for those in upper Kula. — The Maui News / MELISSA TANJI photo

The Water Department issued the advisory on Aug. 11 Lahaina affected by the fires. The county said that as a precaution, customers in these areas are advised not to drink and not to boil their water. Instead of tap water, customers are advised to use only bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, making ice and preparing food. Customers are also advised to limit the use of hot water and limit shower and bathing time and use lukewarm water and a ventilated area.

At least 300 people showed up to the water quality meeting at the Kula Community Center on Thursday, with some even standing outside the center and watching through the jalousies.

Keokea resident Henrietta Chong and husband John, said they’ve been using lots of bottled water. Henrietta Chong said she takes a shower at her daughter’s house, which is also in Kula but not under the advisory.

“If I learned any life lesson from this, it’s don’t complain, especially with what happened to the people in Lahaina, we have nothing to complain about,” she said prior to Thursday’s meeting. “It’s inconvenient, yes, and whenever human nature shoves you to kind of complain a little bit, you stop and think about how lucky we are.”

She added she did take some quick lukewarm showers after the advisory was issued, as recommended, but her skin felt itchy. She said she has not heard of any reports of similar issues.

Lauren Plemel, operations manager at Anytime Fitness in Pukalani, said that since the unsafe water advisory was issued, the gym has opened its shower to residents and provided a place to fill up water.

“When something happens, community is number one,” she said Thursday evening.

Kula Community Association Vice President Doug Sheehan, who also attended the meeting Thursday, said that the county should have been quicker to get the word out about the unsafe drinking advisory.

“I’ll be honest, I think they took really way too long to getting to the public. That’s why there was such a big turnout,” Sheehan said Friday.

He added that the community meeting should have been held sooner and he hopes there will be more in the near future.

Sheehan said that when a Kona low damaged waterlines in Kula in December 2021, the water department said it would work on its communication with the community. He said this included informing the Kula Community Association, which in turn could help notify residents.

Stufflebean said the department is adding a communications person to its staff.

Sheehan continues to take hot showers, knowing he is taking his own chances. His wife goes to a friend’s home to shower. But Sheehan said he is not drinking the water and has had no ill effects from the showers.

The state Department of Health on Thursday said that 25 of the 27 samples from Lahaina and upper Kula did not detect any volatile organic compounds following the fires. The samples that did detect any volatile organic compounds were well below the maximum contaminant level, the DOH said.

Stufflebean also said that out of the dozens of samples they have taken, “so far none of the results have exceeded health standards.”

On Aug. 19, the county expanded the unsafe water advisory in Lahaina to include the area from Kaniau Road to Leialii Parkway. All areas north of the Lahaina Civic Center are safe and the advisory does not apply, the county has said.

Stufflebean said in a text message Friday that the department is “focusing on getting safe water” to the Lahaina Cannery Mall area “but it will take a few weeks at the least.”

Andrew Whelton, a professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University and an expert on what happens to water systems after a fire, explained at the meeting Thursday that the contamination in water systems after fires are generally organic compounds made of carbon.

“These things can come from smoke and soot in the air. The gases and vapors and the particulates find their way into pipes or through an open hydrant and they can contain things like benzene,” he said.

He added that these volatile organic compounds “like to jump out of water.” So if someone put a glass of water on a countertop full of the volatile organic compounds, those organic compounds “would jump into the air.” That’s also why people are recommended to limit their use of hot water and not use clothes dryers, because the compounds “jump out faster.”

“VOCs like to find their way into plastic pipes, in plastic gaskets, and that is another reason why you see repeated testing,” he said. “So if they take the water test and they don’t find it, they generally have to go back, because they have to see if that infrastructure that was all mixed up starts leaching stuff back into the water.”

Whelton said “that is why it is so difficult and exhausting to go chase down all this contamination.”

He said sometimes utilities issue water advisories “because they really want to protect their customers” even though in the end no contaminants are found.

“That’s the proactive approach that they are taking here and thankfully they did that,” he said. “I’m very sorry that you are out of water and this is unimaginably difficult and challenging. You are going to other places to shower and you are getting water and you are showering with bottled water or a shower wand. So I’m very sorry about that. But that’s the process and why we care about these things called VOCs and contaminants.”

Whelton said that if someone is exposed, short-term effects could include nausea, feeling sick or having a sore stomach. He said people should see a doctor and could also contact the state toxicologist if they develop symptoms.

Stufflebean said it’s OK to water plants, as this is done with cold water outside where there is ventilation. The county is working with the state Department of Agriculture regarding guidelines for using the water for crops and livestock.

He said that anyone who has lost their home will not be billed by the water department. The county is also working on how to handle billing for customers in the unsafe water advisory area.

Maui County Council Vice Chairwoman Yuki Lei Sugimura, who organized the meeting, said she too is in the affected Upcountry area and also had questions. Also at the meeting were representatives with the state Department of Health’s Safe Drinking Water Branch, the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, American Red Cross and Maui County Department of Environmental Management. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, Mayor Richard Bissen and some Maui County Council members were also in attendance.

For maps of the areas affected by the unsafe water advisory, see bit.ly/mauiwateradvisory.

For water tanker sites in Upcountry and West Maui, unsafe water advisories and other updates, visit mauicounty.gov/126/Department-of-Water-Supply.

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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