Kekaha water outage planned Thursday for valve, hydrant upgrades

Homes and businesses along Ulili Road in Kekaha will lose water for five hours Thursday while crews install a new 4-inch valve and upgrade a hydrant lateral between Akialoa Road and Akekeke Road.

The outage is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting, and the work is meant to improve both water system reliability and fire protection in the area. That matters beyond routine maintenance for west side households that rely on steady pressure for cooking, cleaning and laundry, and for nearby businesses that may have to trim or pause operating time while service is off.

The Department of Water is advising customers to store enough water for household needs before the shutdown begins, avoid using appliances that require water during the outage and make sure water heaters do not run empty. After service is restored, crews will flush the system through an open hydrant, a standard step after this kind of line work before normal service fully returns.

The county posted the notice Monday, April 28, and The Garden Island repeated the same shutdown details Tuesday. Anyone with questions can call the Department of Water at (808) 245-5400 or email dow@kauaiwater.org.

The planned outage comes days after an emergency shutdown on Ūlili Road and Akialoa Road on April 25, when a main line break cut service for about three hours between Ūlili Road and Elepaio Road before water was restored the same day. It also follows a similar Ulili Road shutdown scheduled for Oct. 3, 2024, between Akekeke Road and Amakihi Road, for a new hydrant valve and hydrant lateral.

Taken together, the notices show a west side water system that is getting piecemeal upgrades rather than waiting for a bigger failure. Kaua‘i County’s Department of Water says its job is to provide safe, affordable and sufficient drinking water through wise management of resources and customer service, and this week’s work on Ulili Road is a small but practical test of that promise for Kekaha residents who will need to plan around a temporary but very real interruption.