A well that broke down and left thousands of Kunia Village residents and some major agricultural concerns thirsting for water is back in service.

About 6,000 residents were asked to take emergency water conservation and rationing measures after both of the community’s wells failed during October.

Despite those measures, the village’s 3,000-gallon drinking water reservoir quickly dried up, and so did the 2.4 million-gallon agricultural reservoir serving some 5,000 acres of agricultural land worked by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta and Fat Law’s Farm.

With repairs underway and the region in crisis, a variety of public and private agencies stepped up and came to the rescue.

“It’s gratifying to know that when there’s a crisis, people take action. This crisis proved that,” said Stephanie Whalen, executive director of the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center.

The Kunia Water Association said in a press release it wanted to “vigorously applaud” Gov. David Ige, the Army, the state Agriculture and Health departments, the Board of Water Supply, the Schofield Wastewater Treatment plant, Aqua Engineering Inc. and others who offered “rapid, timely and efficient response” to the emergency.

Moving quickly to seek permission from the Pentagon, the Army used its emergency authority in support of civil authorities to provide both drinking and irrigation water from facilities at Schofield Barracks.

What’s more, the Board of Water Supply provided a number of 300-gallon drinking water wagons to serve the residents, who ended up having to fill up their own containers for about a week.

With upgrades and repairs on the now-working well approaching $500,000 in recent years, officials are still deciding how to proceed in regard to the backup well, Whalen said.

In the meantime, Whalen said, the Kunia Water Association will seek a permit for permanent access to irrigation water from the Wheeler Army Airfield recycled-water system.

The association is looking at $250,000 in expenses over the next few months to make the wastewater reuse system permanent, Whalen said, while the bill for new water infrastructure costs incurred during the crisis added up to $100,000.

Kunia Village is the former plantation camp that served Del Monte Fresh Produce. After Del Monte closed in 2007, the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center took over the village and now maintains 121 affordable houses available to agricultural workers who earn less than 80 percent of the average median income.