The 297th Engineer Detachment, a firefighting team within the Hawaii Army National Guard, will be deploying later this month to Romania in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

The small unit of about 10 soldiers will provide first-responder and firefighting support to the U.S. Army base on Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, the Hawaii National Guard said. It’s the first time that the 297th will be deployed.

Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan transitioned to Operation Freedom’s Sentinel on Jan. 1, 2015. U.S. military forces use the Romanian air base as a staging area for counterinsurgency operations in the region, including the Middle East.

The mission of the 297th is to provide fire protection for aviation assets and major facilities in any theater of operations, and to provide firefighting services during peacetime in support of local civilian authorities, according to the Hawaii National Guard. The 297th is attached to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 103rd Troop Command.

Hawaii island

North Kona water restriction continues with 4 wells down

A water shortage persists in North Kona as four of the district’s 13 wells have been offline for most of the year. For roughly a week in late June and early July, a fifth well, the recently repaired deep well at Keahuolu, also malfunctioned, which led to even stricter water restrictions.

With four wells down, residents have been instructed to cut water use by 25 percent.

Keith Okamoto, manager and chief engineer of the county Department of Water Supply, told the County Council water and agriculture committee Monday that the restrictions likely will be rolled back once three of the four wells are fixed.

The Waiaha deep well is due to come back online July 31, West Hawaii Today reported. Repairs at three other wells are set to be finished in late October, November and December.

Okamoto said that in a worst-case scenario, water could be hauled from South Kona by truck, but each truck has a capacity of only 4,000 gallons. The district typically uses roughly 12 million gallons per day.

DWS is working with Hawaii County Civil Defense and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to scour departments throughout the nation for spare pumps and motors that meet individual deep-well specifications in North Kona. Motors are more interchangeable, Okamoto said, but pumps are essentially unique to the wells in which they’re installed.

In the meantime, DWS opened bids for three sets of pumps and motors, including one for the Honokohau deep well, which is a crucial water source for North Kona.

DWS doesn’t have the budget to back up all water sources, which is why few spare parts are on hand, Okamoto said. Storing spare equipment is expensive and warranties last only one year.

The department hopes for a life span of five to seven years on freshly installed equipment, but it can fail more quickly. Okamoto explained that two of the four North Kona wells that remain inoperable went down in 2016, about six months after parts were replaced.

Okamoto said the sustainability yield at the Keauhou aquifer is 30 million gallons per day and that, at least for now, Kona’s water sources are sufficient as long as wells continue to function.

“For decades down the road, we’re still in a safe area,” Okamoto said.