2022-06 Department of Water Supply Contingency Plans Follow-up

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