COM 0904.000 2008-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Honorable J Yoshimoto, Chairman and Members of the County Council Page 6 require a 100,000 - gallon concrete reservoir to be located offsite at an elevation of 100 - feet above the highest portion of the subject property. The reason for this requirement is to have the water pumped from the well to the 100,000 - gallon reservoir, which is located at a higher elevation, and then to allow the water to work as a gravity flow system to the individual lots. This saves electrical costs associated with a pump system because water is only pumped to the main reservoir tank instead of being pumped to each of the individual lots. Additionally, the gravity flow system will work as a backup system in the event of damage to the system or a power outage. The gravity flow system will continue to work for a day or two until power is restored or necessary repairs can be made. The applicant is proposing to store water within a 15,000- gallon tank located onsite and use a pump system to service the individual lots. The Department of Health -Safe Drinking Water Branch also oversees new public water systems. They define a new public water system as a system that serves 25 or more persons, or has 15 or more service connections. Based on the information provided in the application, the Department of Health believes that this system may service 25 or more persons, and therefore would be considered a new public water system. This would include people who live and work on the proposed six (6) lots, including farm workers for agriculture or people associated with the pastoral and /or equestrian use of the property. As such, the applicant will be required to comply with the state and federal requirements for a new public water system, which are explained within the Department of Health -Safe Drinking Water Branch's comment letter. A condition of approval could be considered requiring the applicant not to service more than 25 persons with their private water system to ensure that they do not trigger the state and federal requirements for a new public water system, but such a condition would be difficult to enforce. Therefore, the Planning Director is recommending that a standard condition be added requiring the applicant to comply with the requirements of the Department of Health -Safe Drinking Water Branch for the proposed water system. The Planning Director is bringing this matter for discussion to the Planning Commission and the Hawai`i County Council mainly because of the costs involved for an applicant to create a private water system meeting with the approval of the Department of Water Supply or improving the existing County water system if County water is not available to the applicant's property. As mentioned above, the cost to improve the existing County water system to provide County water to the subject property may be up to $1.2 million. Additionally, the cost for a private water system designed and constructed in accordance with the Department of Water Supply's Water System Standards may be up to $2.2 million. These excessive costs to bring water to the property basically prevent any opportunity for the applicant, and other residents, to consider a change of zone for their property.