NEWS BRIEF

• A 25% Water Restriction remains in effect for North Kona as four of thirteen wells are out of service.
• Its been nearly a month since the previous Water Supply update on the North Kona water situation. After an October 31 update, island residents were surprised to hear that in that time, additional wells had failed without any public notification.
• In an interview with Sherry Bracken, Manager and Chief Engineer Keith Okamoto took sole responsibility for the decision to withhold the recent information on the Kona water wells. Okamoto apologized for any degradation of public trust that may have occurred as a result.
• Mayor Harry Kim told the West Hawaii Today that he was aware of the situation and accepted the plan to withhold information, even though he said he did not agree with it.

Big Island Video News will have more on this story this evening in a special report.