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Wilhelmina water tank
due for paint

Question: We moved into a house in the Wilhelmina Rise area a year ago. The peeling paint on a nearby Board of Water Supply tank concerned me. I spoke with someone at the Board of Water Supply and found that there is lead in the paint. At that time, records showed the tank was scheduled to be repainted in early 2005. I was told a contract had been awarded, but another company was contesting it. Can you help us find out when the water tank will be repainted, and more important, how they plan to do so safely?

Answer: We can't give you an exact date for the job, except that the Board of Water Supply expects it to begin "in the near future."

Repainting the Wilhelmina Rise 405 Reservoir (the one located at the 405-foot elevation) was scheduled for late last year, but the work was postponed in October after one of the failed bidders for the job filed a protest, said Board of Water Supply spokeswoman Wanda Yamane.

The issues surrounding the contract award have since been resolved. However, no date for the work has been set because the contract is still being processed.

Yamane says the board recognizes and shares your concern about lead in the paint.

The contractor is required to prepare and follow a detailed work plan for the safe removal of the paint, complying with all federal and state rules and regulations covering the removal and disposal of hazardous material, she said.

Among the precautions: encapsulating the work area so that lead-containing paint will not become airborne. Air quality around the work site during and after any paint removal will be monitored.

The contractor also will be responsible for disposing of all waste material at an approved disposal site, either locally or on the mainland, based upon the lead content of the waste material, Yamane said.

Q: It irks me to no end when I am trying to go home to Kaneohe on Likelike Highway and find it's closed after I am halfway up the road. I have to turn around and go back to School Street. Why can't they put a sign at Likelike and School warning motorists?

A: Because of a lack of space.

The state Department of Transportation looked at placing message boards along School Street, on both sides of the Likelike intersection, but could not find adequate space without blocking pedestrian access.

The night closures for the Kaneohe-bound Wilson Tunnel are over for now. However, the Honolulu-bound tunnel will now be closed for maintenance work room 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

"Probably what added to the confusion (about Likelike closures) is we used to close one direction of Likelike or another on Sundays to repave the road," said transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "That resurfacing job was completed last month."

Later this summer, the Department of Transportation plans to close the Kaneohe-bound tunnel on a 24-hour basis for concrete work.

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