2020-01 Performance Audit Report: Contingency Plans at County of Hawai'i's Department of Water Supply

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Report Highlights March 3, 2020 Contingency Plans at the County of Hawai`i's Department of Water Supply What was theam,, jre • - • purpose of this audit? As required by federal law, DWS developed the Since January 2017, up to Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) (August 2010), five of DWS's deep water which addressed operational procedures of disaster wells were intermittently in events. DWS developed three contingency plans in 2017 and out of service, restricting when four wells became inoperable. valuable water service to residents, businesses, and We reviewed both the COOP and the contingency plans the public throughout North and found that DWS should improve their contingency Kona. plans. Specifically, the contingency plans should contain sufficient detail including prioritizing and clearly We conducted this documenting emergency procedure by district, describe performance audit to types and implementation guidance and types of water evaluate if the County's usage restrictions, as well as clearly documenting their Department of Water Supply communication procedures. Furthermore, DWS should (DWS) had adequate fully complete the COOP with vendor names and/or contingency plans to contact information. guarantee sufficient water supply to customers at all Department's management has generally agreed with times, including during a the comments and recommendations in this report. disruption of deep well Their complete response to this audit can be found on operations. page 15: Department's Comment. We initiated the audit on What • • we recommend? request of the Hawaii County Council (Resolution 287-17) To help ensure prompt resolution and communication to and numerous constituent the ratepayers of any future deep well operation concerns regarding repair disruptions, we recommend DWS improve their delays and water restrictions contingency and COOP plans to provide sufficient detail for the North Kona area. as described above in "What did we find" and as prescribed by best practices. A complete list of our recommendations can be found on page 14: "What do we recommend?" This audit was conducted in accordance with general accepted government auditing standards.