The Honolulu Board of Water Supply will not resume the replacement of a water main that runs along a ridge above 10th Avenue in Palolo until it gets more details about the potential for rockfalls. Palolo water main
replacement project delayed
to allow time to study rockfalls
Star-Bulletin staff
Consultant Earth Tech Inc. has a $74,380 contract to assess the risk from the job. A report submitted by the company is being sent back for a more detailed analysis.
"By no means did it identify any emergency boulders we have to take care of," said Garret Matsunami, with the engineering and construction branch of the Board of Water Supply.
Matsunami said residents living below the project expressed concerns that it may loosen boulders.
He said work along the hillside was stopped in October while the contractor for the job and the BWS assessed the risk.
The pipeline runs 3,800 feet along the hillside to a reservoir on Wilhelmina Rise. It is estimated that the water main is about 70 years old, and replacing the main is part of a larger $1.8 million contract.
Matsunami said the Water Board is also looking at alternatives to running the main along the hillside.
