While I was traveling, the island compound got some rain. Not a whole lot, but enough that the pasture has greened up. It was about ½ inch over the two weeks, and the catchment tank filled up almost to the top — it was about ¾ full when I left. I’m sure we’re still officially in drought conditions, but the immediate fire danger is lessened, the county will have more municipal water, and folks on catchment got a little reprieve.
At the same time, HA got a call from the county water department saying that we had used more water than usual… about 300 gallons per day! That’s obviously a leak, but I just fixed a serious leak at the meter and expected our water usage to go down.
Our water meter isn’t even on or adjacent to our property. It is on an easement for the county road adjacent to the parcel makai from ours. The county says we’re responsible for anything that happens after the water flows through the meter. In this case, the steel pipe leaves the meter, goes through a (formerly leaky but now replaced) anti-backflow device. It then dives underground and goes under a private road, then underground (I think) in the rainforest along the gulch for 450+ feet. As it starts to approach the house, it rises above ground. It’s PVC at that point, so I imagine it’s PVC the whole way along the gulch. There’s one place where it diverts to a stock watering trough which is a likely location for the problem. If not, I’ll be spending tomorrow hacking through dense jungle hoping that I can spot a leak. If it’s not visible above ground, I’ll be digging up a whole lot of pipe. I have no idea how to handle where it goes under the private road.
—2p