Residents and businesses in the North Kohala District of the Big Island will be without running water at least through the weekend because of problems at both wells that serve the area.

The water outage is affecting North Kohala residents except for those in the Makapala and Niuli'i areas, the county Department of Water Supply reported.

The department has placed water tankers at the county Public Works baseyard on Ho'ea Road and at Kamehameha Park. People may get potable water from the tankers.

The county was hoping to make repairs by Monday, said Daryl Ikeda, the department's chief of operations.

One of the two wells at Hawi was already out of service for repairs, after a pump broke about a month ago, Ikeda said.

Shortly after noon yesterday, the second well also malfunctioned.

"The motor's running but the water's not coming up," Ikeda said. The department was arranging to get a contractor to the site to find out what the problem is, he said.

It was not known how many people are affected, he said.

Ikeda said the county also was arranging to use a well on land owned by Kohala Surety, but that it would not meet all of the water needs of the district, which uses about half a million gallons of water a day.

The department urged residents to limit water use to basic needs such as cooking, filling toilets and brushing teeth.