University of Hawaii at Manoa students are once again left out in the cold.
KHON2 told you about the water problems at Hale Mokihana this summer, and one month after hot water was restored, students are again taking cold showers.
“Honestly it angers me a little bit, because you know, I paid for that hot water and it kind of looks like they’re not really doing much to resolve it soon,” said freshman Moubeen Jamal.
Jamal is just one of 260 UH Manoa students currently living without hot water in the Mokihana dormitory.
“During the summer, I heard that the water went out too,” said Jamal. “They didn’t really resolve it til the end of summer so that’s kind of whack too.”
One-hundred-fifty students lived without hot water for most of July while UH fixed a broken boiler.
Students got hot water back on Aug 2. Then on Tuesday, it went out again.
“I went in and took a shower and yeah, there was no hot water so I was like not stoked at all,” said Jamal.
The problem, once again, is the boiler. The university said the boiler will be replaced with a new one on Monday at a cost of $26,000. Hot water should be restored that afternoon.
“This is going to be a long-term solution for Mokihana, definitely for the rest of the semester, and then there are going to be some more permanent boilers coming in that will, right now tentatively go in, in December, which should last 10, 15 years if not longer,” said UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
The permanent boiler is larger and a crane has to be used to install it. UH will do the installation during the holidays when facilities are closed.
“We absolutely apologize for the inconvenience to our students, to the students living there,” said Meisenzahl.
Students affected can use showers at a nearby dormitory until the problem is fixed. Students were also offered a chance to relocate to other facilities, but no one has taken that option.
A rent credit is also being considered for the affected students.
