(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi County Department of Water Supply issued a news release on Thursday, November 16, detailing how it plans to deal with an extended power outage due to a wildfire, should one occur in the future.

The DWS statement follows Hawaiian Electric’s recent release of its Wildfire Safety Strategy. 

The Department says it requires “a significant amount of dependable electricity to move approximately 25 million gallons of water each day and deliver it to more than 45,000 homes, businesses, farms, and community facilities located throughout much of Hawai‘i Island.”

From the DWS:

Hawaiian Electric mentioned in its a November 3 news release regarding their Wildfire Safety Strategy, “If a fault or disturbance is detected on a circuit, power lines in risk areas shut off automatically until crews visually confirm that it is safe to restore power. This may result in longer outages in some areas, including outages that last overnight” www.hawaiianelectric.com/hawaiian-electric-advances-wildfire-safety-strategy-expands-grid-resilience-work.

DWS utilizes backup generators at key well sites to help maintain a limited amount of water service during temporary power outages, however, an extended power outage could leave portions of DWS’ water systems empty and customers with no water. Should this scenario be anticipated, DWS will instruct its affected customers to use their tap water only for drinking, cooking, and hygiene purposes to preserve the limited amount of available potable water. Irrigation, car washing, and non-essential uses of water would be suspended until power is restored.

DWS strongly urges its customers and those who depend on a continuous supply of DWS water to review their personal situations and prepare accordingly. Customers should have alternate sources of potable water and enough supply to meet their essential needs during a prolonged power outage that disrupts DWS service. Ways to safely store drinking water are listed in the Water Emergency Preparedness guide available under the “Community” drop-down menu option on the Department’s website, hawaiidws.org.