Punaluu Black Sand Beach off Hawaii Belt Road, Palm Trees, on the Big Island, Hawaii.
Punaluu Black Sand Beach off Hawaii Belt Road, Palm Trees, on the Big Island, Hawaii.
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For more than two months, Kevin Reiss and his wife have been bathing with water hauled in buckets, pouring it over their heads with a Tupperware cup. They can’t flush their toilets, and pay $200 a month to use a portable toilet outside their home.
It’s how they’ve been living since Hurricane Lala struck Hawaii Island in mid-August, knocking out water and sewer service to about 100 properties in the rural southeastern community of Punaluu, an area known widely for its black sand beach.
“Everybody’s at wit’s end right now,” Reiss told SFGATE, describing the possibility that restoring water could take up to two years. “That’s completely unacceptable.”
Residents haven’t received water or other assistance from the privately owned utility, Punaluu Water and Sanitation LLC, nor its owner, he said. “They’ve done nothing basically to try to remedy the situation,” he said.
The utility responsible for their water and sewer service is not insured, has no money secured for repairs and no timeline for restoring service, according to Colin Sakamoto, the utility’s attorney, at an Oct. 19 meeting called by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to address the outage and the utility’s plans to restore service. The commission also acknowledged residents’ reports of “inadequate and untimely communication” from the utility.
“Unfortunately, we can’t even afford a portable water tank at this time,” Sakamoto said.
The water and sanitation company’s equipment has been severely damaged.
The water and sanitation company’s equipment has been severely damaged.
The utility is owned by Xiaoyuan “Eva” Liu, a real estate investor who has business ties to the San Francisco Bay Area, including Pleasanton and Dublin. In 2020, another Liu entity, Black Sand Beach LLC, purchased approximately 434 acres around Punaluu Black Sand Beach, including the existing water and sewer infrastructure, with plans for a residential and resort-style development called Punaluu Village that met strong opposition from residents.
Liu did not attend the meeting. Instead, Sakamoto and a representative of Liu spoke for the company. Liu’s representative said she was gathering repair estimates to bring to Liu, who would decide what to do next.
The hurricane damaged both wells and destroyed equipment needed to provide drinking water. Sakamoto estimated it would take $500,000 just to begin repairs, money the company doesn’t have. Engineers aren’t scheduled to assess the damage until Nov. 17.
“I’m being absolutely blunt. There is no projected timeline,” Sakamoto told the commission.
Residents left to fend for themselves
Reiss lives in Kalana Golf Estates, up the road from the Colony 1 condominium complex. Both depend on Punaluu Water and Sanitation LLC, which Liu’s company owns.
To get by, Reiss and his wife haul water from a communal 1,500-gallon tank, which he said Colony 1’s Association of Apartment Owners president, Jeff Silva, is paying for out of pocket. They fill gallon jugs and 5-gallon buckets to take home.
The communal 1,500-gallon tank filled with nonpotable water paid for by Jeff Silva.
The communal 1,500-gallon tank filled with nonpotable water paid for by Jeff Silva.
Five-gallon buckets line Kevin Weiss’ bathroom.
Five-gallon buckets line Kevin Weiss’ bathroom.
At the Oct. 19 meeting, residents testified about the conditions. For older and disabled residents, hauling water is especially difficult. Jean Campbell, a retired postal worker living in Kalana Golf Estates, told state regulators she carries 5-gallon containers weighing nearly 50 pounds to wash her hair and dishes. Another resident, Tom Dodd, said his wife, who had a heart attack prior to Lala, cannot carry the buckets of water, while another neighbor “who is very immobile” suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.
Colony 1 resident Don Barnett said some older neighbors can’t stay in their residences because they can’t walk the quarter-mile to a portable toilet or haul water. Rourk Reagan said his 78-year-old mother, who uses a wheelchair, has had to move from Colony 1 to temporary housing about two hours away.
“I don’t know how she’s going to carry water to flush her toilet in her wheelchair,” Reagan told commissioners.
For those who remain, even using a toilet is difficult. Dodd said the portable toilet service cannot reach his driveway, making it difficult to use one at night.
“We’re camping out in the open,” Dodd said.
Kathleen Mumme described how they “take chances of injury” while using portable toilets in the dark and rain. She said residents have had to buy their own supplies without help from the utility. “Not one bottle of water was ever given to us. Not one of them stepped into our, onto our street to talk to any of us,” Mumme told commissioners, referring to the utility.
“I want to make a plea that you consider now the people, really truly consider the people, and the situation we’re living in,” Campbell said. “It’s almost untenable, and I’ll tell you the level of stress is palpable.”
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No clear path forward
Meanwhile, Liu’s company could receive $1.46 million from Hawaii County. Mayor Kimo Alameda announced Oct. 13 a tentative agreement to buy a separate 6.8-acre parcel containing Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park from Black Sand Beach LLC. The park has been closed since the county’s lease expired Aug. 29.
Sakamoto said the county was also interested in potentially taking over the water and sewer system. SFGATE reached out to Hawaii County but did not hear back in time for this story.
Kevin Weiss’ rented portable toilet.
Kevin Weiss’ rented portable toilet.
Testimony by residents has made it clear they want the system turned over to another entity, like the county or Ninole Wai Community Association, a community organization made up of condo and property owners recently founded with the purpose of taking over the water and sewer system.
“We have the skills, we have the know-how, and we have the willingness. We have skin in the game,” Silva, president of Ninole Wai as well as the Colony 1 AOAO, said in his testimony at the Oct. 19 meeting. He urged the commission to transfer ownership.
Reiss left the meeting with little confidence that relief would come soon, an uncertainty that is compounded by the lack of help from the utility.
“They’ve never even provided even a bucket of water for the people that live in the area,” he said. “To this day, they have not.”
Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.
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