2026-09-10 · Hawaii · Compliance · Reported — unconfirmed

A 76-unit condominium in the Kaū district of Hawaii Island has had no running water since Hurricane Lala struck on August 15, 2026, because the privately owned utility that serves it was destroyed.¹

As of September 8, 2026 residents of Colony I at Sea Mountain, near Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach, were reported using portable toilets and 1,500-gallon tanks. About twenty properties in a neighbouring subdivision are also affected.

The provider, Punalu‘u Water and Sanitation, describes the well site as “a complete and total loss” and estimates restoration at six to twelve months. The Public Utilities Commission is investigating. The association’s president has proposed placing the utility into receivership with a nonprofit operator.

The structural problem, stated plainly

The association has the obligation to house and serve its owners. It has no legal control over the asset that makes that possible, and no clean funding path to replace it.

Under HRS § 514B-137(a), “the association is responsible for the operation of the property.” Under § 514B-106 the board owes a fiduciary duty in discharging that responsibility. Neither section gives the association any authority over a regulated third-party water company.

1. Honolulu Civil Beat, “No Water, And No End In Sight: A Big Island Condo Copes With Lala,” September 8, 2026 ↩
2. HRS § 514B-148, Association fiscal matters; budgets and reserves (emergency situations at subsections (e) and (h)) ↩