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Executive Summary <br /> Background <br /> The Department of Water Supply (DWS) is a semi-autonomous agency of the County of Hawaii <br /> that operates by rules and regulations adopted by the Water Board. The Department operates <br /> and maintains its water systems with revenues generated solely through billings for water service. <br /> The primary function of the Department is to provide safe drinking water through its 23 individual <br /> water systems distributed around the island. Attachment 1.1. <br /> DWS continuously strives to provide dependable, uninterrupted, high quality, potable water at a <br /> reasonable cost in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. DWS services nine districts using <br /> four baseyards located in Hilo, Kona, Waimea, and Kau. <br /> DWS can draw on its 23 water systems to support any of its out-of-service deepwells. <br /> The Office of the County Auditor has completed a follow-up engagement with the County of <br /> Hawai`i's Department of Water Supply Contingency Plans. We initiated the audit on request of <br /> the Hawaii County Council (Resolution 287-17) and numerous constituent concerns regarding <br /> repair delays and water restrictions for the North Kona areas. <br /> As required by federal law, DWS developed the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) (August <br /> 2010), which addressed operational procedures for disaster events. DWS also developed three <br /> contingency plans in 2017 when four wells became inoperable. These contingency plans <br /> included: <br /> • Kona Operations Initial Plan <br /> • North Kona Response and Responsibilities <br /> • North Kona Operations Emergency Action Plan <br /> The prior audit found gaps in DWS' COOP and three contingency plans. Specifically, contingency <br /> plans should contain sufficient detail including prioritizing and clearly documenting emergency <br /> procedures for all districts, three types of water usage restrictions to address water shortages, <br /> clearly documenting communication procedures. In addition, DWS should list complete vendor <br /> names and/or contact information that provide an essential function in their COOP. <br /> As of September 2022, DWS confirmed 12 of the 14 deepwells in North Kona are operable, with <br /> the exception of: <br /> • Wai'aha Deepwell <br /> o Pending negotiations over incomplete repair contract (Job No. 2016-1056) <br /> • Makalei Estates Deepwell <br /> o Awaiting developer redesign and construction of pump and motor (warranty issue) <br /> Executive Summary 1 1 <br />