 Earthjustice charges 'dumping' of water
The Earthjustice legal organization has filed a complaint that Wailuku Agribusiness and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. have been illegally "dumping" water withdrawn from streams in the West Maui watershed. The Hawaii Supreme Court has ordered that water no longer needed for agriculture must be returned to the stream from which it was being drawn to restore stream flow.
Irrigation Ditches Wasting Water?
According to Earthjustice, the flow pictured here is not the result of rainy runoff. Rather it is the result of overflowing ditches and reservoirs in the Wailuku Ag/HC&S system that continue to receive a combined total of up to 40 mgd of stream water that was once necessary to irrigate thousands of acres of ag fields.
Healing Maui watersheds: Pollutants, runoff studied
Two University of Hawaii researchers are trying to help Maui's community eliminate runoff and pollution problems in the Iao watershed in Central Maui and the Hapapa watershed in Kula and South Maui.
Streams in Hawaii show slow decline
Streams make news when they overflow during a deluge, but a new federal study reveals that the flow in island streams has declined over the past 90 years. The trend may be bad news about a dwindling drinking water supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey report on "Trends in Streamflow Characteristics" released early in December.
"There has never been an analysis of this type," said hydrologist Delwyn Oki, who evaluated data from the Geological Survey network of stream gauge stations on the five major islands and 70 rain gauges. "It will be of great interest to people in the water resource business."
|
Private water users to report to County under Kane proposal
An initial review of Councilmember Dain Kane's proposal to expand reporting requirements for private water actions has been referred to the Water Resources Committee by the Maui County Council.
"The County's ability to monitor and manage water resources in the public interest is impeded by unreported withdrawals and diversions of water by private parties and unregulated construction of private water systems," said Kane. "Therefore, after consulting with County attorneys, I will transmit to the Water Resources Committee a bill to expand reporting requirements for such actions."
Late last year, Kane introduced a proposal to integrate the Water Use and Development Plan with the General Plan. The bill to codify that proposal is pending before the Planning Committee.
EPA Offers Communities New Tool for Achieving Smart Growth and Water Quality Goals
EPA has released a new report – Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth – that will help communities protect water resources and achieve smart growth. Some of the adverse effects of growth and development can include: loss of woodlands, meadowlands, and wetlands, and increased polluted run-off. Smart growth is development that is good for the economy, public health and the environment. The report documents 75 innovative approaches -- including redeveloping abandoned properties, encouraging rooftop gardens, creating shared parking, and promoting tree planting -- that state and local governments and water quality professionals can use to achieve their smart growth and water quality goals.
To receive a FREE copy of the report, send an email to: ncepimal@one.net or call 1-800-490-9198 and request EPA publication 231-R-04-002.
The report and more information about smart growth are also available at: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
Windward O‘ahu Streams and Communities Win Further Protection
"The Hawai`i Supreme Court's decision is a huge victory for our streams, the communities that rely on them, and the public at large. The Court has sent a strong message to the Water Commission that there will be no give-away of our public trust resources. Our streams will get the protection that the law requires, no matter how many times the Court has to order the Commission to do its job," said Kalä Hoe, a member of Hakipu`u `Ohana, one of the original Windward Parties to petition for stream restoration.
Consumers oppose plan for Hamakuapoko water
About 60 people at a meeting called by the Department of Water Supply insisted that consumers in Paia didn't want the water from two Hamakuapoko wells - because it's contaminated with agricultural chemicals.
The Waihe‘e aquifer is being considered by the State Water Commission for state-level control through designation, just as they have done with the ‘Iao aquifer. Here's an ongoing series to keep you updated on the story...
|
|
Committee restores funding for monitor water well in Waihe‘e
A conference committee has agreed to restore $431,000 for a deep monitor water well in the Waihee aquifer. The well is needed to keep track of conditions in the aquifer now that the Department of Water Supply is pumping close to the maximum sustainable yield for the area, or about 4 million gallons a day. The state Commission on Water Resource Management is responsible for evaluating the condition of the resource, although the county controls the rate of withdrawals. A Senate committee had deleted the funding earlier in the session.
|
 Legislature Adopts Resolution on Lead Levels in Water
Urges Federal Fix to Upcountry Lead Problem
"The surface water that supplies most of the upcountry region is acidic and low in mineral content, conditions that encourage the leaching of lead from pipes. Additives that were supposed to mitigate this problem proved to be somewhat ineffective in certain water systems, and possibly detrimental to the health of our residents." - State Senator J. Kalani English
East Maui Watershed Art Contest Begins
Global warming threatens isle species
Experts warn climate shifts are harming coral and other life around the world
Whale Skate Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands was a tiny dot of land in the vast Pacific, about 10 to 15 acres in size. It was covered with vegetation, nesting seabirds, Hawaiian monk seals and turtles laying eggs. It no longer exists. "That island in the course of 20 years has completely disappeared" with rising sea levels, said Beth Flint, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologist for the Pacific Remote Island Refuges. "It washed away."
Preserving Paradise for Future Generations
How we can use the Public Trust Doctrine to preserve our natural resources
"Under the State Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine, the State's first duty is to protect the fresh water resources (surface and ground) which are part of the public trust. The duty to protect public water resources is a categorical imperative and the precondition to all subsequent considerations, for without such underlying protection the natural environment could, at some point, be irrevocably harmed and the 'duty to maintain the purity and flow of our waters for future generations and to assure that the waters of our land are put to reasonable and beneficial uses' could be endangered."
Attempts to change the State Water Code delayed, but not ended
East Maui Water leases on hold
A court ruling that requires at least an environmental assessment of the ompact on East Maui streams by the water diversion system is a necessary first step in restoring the natural flow of those streams. The articles linked on the right not only tell the story, but also show how some of Hawaii's newspapers chose to report this landmark decision.
|
|
 County to seek rights to former ag water
It all depends on rainfall, but there is an estimated average of 40 million gallons of water a day available in irrigation ditches, reservoirs and the Iao and Waihee streams flowing out of the West Maui Mountains. Gaining rights to the water along with tapping into the existing delivery system of ditches, tunnels and reservoirs could provide a quick answer to a water shortage that has led Maui County to hold up water-meter reservations for new construction in Central Maui.
Decision on Maui aquifer deferred
The state's Commission on Water Resource Management voted yesterday to defer designating Maui's Waihee aquifer as a state ground water management area, at least until January, despite concerns raised by environmentalists.
Maui group criticizes state over water supply
The Maui Meadows Homeowners Association criticized the state yesterday for "ignoring its own order" to automatically take control of the underground water supply in Waihee in central Maui when water levels dropped. DLNR announced Monday that the water level at the Kanoa Test Well at the Waihee aquifer was actually 2 feet lower than originally believed, and also past the trigger level.
State takes control of Iao aquifer
Time and the continually rising thirst of Central and South Maui homes and businesses caught up with the Department of Water Supply on Wednesday. The state Commission on Water Resource Management has designated the Iao aquifer as a state groundwater management area. The 12-month moving average of pumping from the aquifer system exceeded 18 million gallons a day, a limit that previously was set by the commission for automatic designation.
Maui's Mayor and Maui's Water
Maui is negotiating for new water sources
Mayor Alan Arakawa said his administration is negotiating an agreement to use millions of gallons of water daily from C. Brewer's system in the West Maui Mountains.
Mayor Arakawa and our fresh water system
"When my administration took over in January, we also took over a Central and South Maui water system that had for years been limping along, almost being placed under state management. Rather than continue a policy of avoiding state management of the system's core, the 'Iao Aquifer, we began to focus on the alternatives to continuing to over-pump this key resource."
No more water meter reservations accepted "until further notice"
Mayor Alan Arakawa today announced that pending discussions with the County Board of Water Supply to determine a strategy to meet potential challenges arising from the state's designation of the Iao Aquifer, the County of Maui Department of Water Supply stopped the issuance of reservations for water meters on July 21, 2003, the effective date of the state's designation of the aquifer.
Water availability must be part of planning process
Mayor Alan M. Arakawa – "We must take first things first. We must inventory our water resources so that we can intelligently understand what our ability to provide water is."
|
Central Maui Water Situation
The County Administration is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to water for Central & South Maui. They cannot increase pumping in Iao or Waihee. Planned wells to the north of existing ones in Waihee will take several years, and they may not provide much new source. The East Maui well plan has stalled in the courts for 10 years, and has strong opponents. Desalinization is expensive and electricity intensive. Surface waters are committed and tightly controlled by powerful entities. At least a million gallons per day of new meter reservations have been issued by the Department, and about 6 million gallons more of new development projects are in the works or on the books.
Public Trust Doctrine and Waiahole Water featured in Orion Magazine
"...a little-known legal principle called the Public Trust Doctrine, which says that common resources such as water are to be held in trust by the state for the use and enjoyment of the general public, rather than private interests."
Coalitions forming to help save watersheds
Concerned landowners and government officials are launching an unprecedented group of public-private partnerships aimed at the saving and enhancing of the upland forests that are the source of much of Hawai'i's water.
EPA funding to help state’s beach monitoring
The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health program requires states to establish water-quality standards for coastal areas and to monitor the water along the beaches. The Clean Water Branch of the state Department of Health currently monitors 40 shoreline locations around the state.
 Modern way to filter water in works
Kaua'i County's Water Department and Grove Farm Co. are discussing a filtration plant that would use tubes with minuscule holes in them. A partial vacuum on the inside of the spaghetti-like tubes would suck water through the porous tubes, but would leave behind any contaminants.
The East Maui Watershed Partnership
"We're really not a restoration project, replanting native plants and things like that, at least not initially; our function is to protect the forest. We don't deal with water rights or allocation; we're not politicians. If we don't protect the forest, there won't be any water to fight about."
Diversions may take toll on aquatic life
What happens to a stream when you divert water from it? A new study suggests the costs to the natural world of stream diversions may be greater than many people may have guessed.
Groups Challenge East Maui Wells
Faced with soaring demands for water from its 'Iao aquifer system, County water planners have turned to Ha'iku to make up the projected shortfalls.
State lists polluted streams
Every stream on O'ahu and one-third of streams statewide are polluted, according to the state's Environmental Planning Office.
|
An abundant amount of rain falls along the windward side of Maui, but fresh water remains a precious resource with a long history of poor management. Development continues to outpace the ability to deliver domestic water. The streams of East Maui surrender their flow to thirsty cane fields. Underground basins of fresh water shrink under the pressure of wells drawing millions of gallons daily.
