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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Water pipe on private
land is owner’s responsibilityQuestion: When a water pipe breaks and is leaking gallons of water per minute, why can't the Board of Water Supply come out and turn it off? On Sunday, July 6, a light post had either fallen over or been run over in the Kokea Center parking lot at Kokea Street and Dillingham Boulevard. A water pipe also was broken there inches from where the wires of the lightpost were exposed. I called 911 non-emergency at 8:30 a.m. The person I spoke with seemed very concerned with whether this was on private property or not. When I got out of church at noon, the water was still coming out, flooding part of the parking lot, the bus stop, and most definitely the area with the large damaged light and its wires. It was much worse than before. When I called 911 again, a woman told me she could not access the information from my earlier call on her computer. She also said there was nothing they could do if the situation was on private property. If someone's home (private property) catches fire, the fire department will respond. Why won't government agencies do anything if it is flooding, which can be just as dangerous as fires, especially where electric wires are down and people are walking through several inches of water for several yards to get to a bus stop?
Answer: The Honolulu Police Department said an officer is sent whenever there's a report of a fallen tree/utility pole, broken water pipe, etc. and will determine whether private property is involved.
In the case you cite, two officers were sent to Kokea Center at 8:40 a.m. and both did not view the situation as threatening life or property, said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
If the broken pipe were on public property, HPD would have notified the Board of Water Supply, Hawaiian Electric Co., etc., Yu said.
But because it was on private property, "the property owner is responsible for taking care of the situation," she said. "Our records don't show whether the owner or BWS were notified."
Asked why police dispatch just didn't call BWS, Yu said the concern with the incident happening on private property like the Kokea Center is that BWS is "going to have to bill somebody." Also, if the water were turned off without the property owner's consent and somehow, "something (bad) happens," such as causing damage to someone's business, there are liability concerns, she said.
BWS was never called about the broken water pipe at the Kokea Center, said spokeswoman Denise DeCosta. Kokea Center management apparently found out about the broken pipe, although we couldn't reach anyone to confirm what happened.
DeCosta said that if someone had called the board, it would have tried to contact the "consumer" to turn the water off at the property valve.
"If no one was available, we would turn it off at the meter, leave a note with the consumer, and notify our after-hours dispatchers at the BWS control center," DeCosta said.
She said emergency calls can be made to the BWS 24-hour phone number, 748-5010.
When asked about HPD's explanation about how it handles situations like this, DeCosta reiterated BWS's procedures, adding that the board's "primary concern is water loss from the broken pipe; liability remains the responsibility of the property owner."
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