Maui battle for water being waged over use of 'Iao aquifer
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — As Hawai'i regional director of the U.S. Geological Service, William Meyer paid particularly close attention to the integrity of Maui's main source of drinking water, the 'Iao aquifer.
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He didn't like what he saw.
Water gathered from the vast ditch system of East Maui Irrigation, sister company to Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., is sent via Wailoa Ditch to the canefields of central Maui.
Meyer watched in the mid-1990s as Maui allowed pumping to exceed the aquifer's estimated sustainable yield of 20 million gallons a day. Even after pumping was cut back under a state edict, chloride levels continued to rise and groundwater levels continued to fall.
Today, three years after his retirement, Meyer still worries about the future of the 'Iao aquifer. He and others are urging the state Commission on Water Resource Management to exert its authority over the county by designating it a state ground-water management area.
The battle over 'Iao aquifer is one of several being waged over water on Maui, each of which carries implications for development and growth on the Valley Isle. In the next few weeks, the war will be fought on several fronts:
- The state water commission is scheduled to decide Nov. 20 whether to designate the 'Iao aquifer a state groundwater management area, which would require anyone who wants to pump water to get a permit from the commission.
- The state Board of Land and Natural Resources will discuss on Nov. 15 a hearing officer's recommendations in a contested-case hearing challenging the permits that allow Alexander & Baldwin's agricultural subsidiaries to take 60 billion gallons of water a year from East Maui for sugar cane production in Central Maui.
- Conservationists are considering once more whether to challenge a revised $50 million plan to develop wells in East Maui to help support development in Central and South Maui.
- In the Tuesday general election, Maui County voters will decide whether to give the county Board of Water Supply more autonomy or reduce it to an advisory panel. Critics of the semiautonomous board say that turning it into an advisory panel to the mayor and County Council will give Maui lawmakers and planners a better handle on whether there's enough water to accommodate growth.
With all the controversy surrounding water on Maui, you'd think there was precious little of it. In fact, the island's mountains and watersheds are among the wettest on earth, but the water is either in private hands or accessible only at great expense.
Jonathan Starr of the Board of Water Supply compares the system to the lawless towns of the Wild West. "There's no management under the current status. ... Anyone can take any amount of water and use it for anything. There's no sheriff to enforce the law.''
Critics see shortcomings not only in management, but also equitable distribution, scientific knowledge and threats to water quality.
"There's a broad awareness that the system isn't working very well,'' said Ron Sturtz, president of Maui Tomorrow, a group that advocates responsible growth.
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The nonprofit group has launched a $200,000 campaign to compile independent data on the extent of Maui's water resources.
The 75-mile network of ditches that waters the cane fields of Central Maui is a sore point with Maui taro farmers, who say it deprives their patches of natural stream flows and threatens their way of life.
Topping the list of concerns is the 'Iao aquifer, which holds fresh water relied upon by more than half the population.
For the fourth time in two decades of construction in Central and South Maui that have heavily taxed the aquifer, the state water commission is considering designating 'Iao (and the smaller Waihe'e) aquifers. That would turn over ultimate responsibility for the aquifer to the state, and each pumping permit would have to be approved by the commission.
Last time, the commission decided against designation, warning the county instead to cut back on pumping or face the issue again. Today the draw on 'Iao is 17.5 million gallons a day, well below its 20-million-gallon estimated sustainable yield.
However, Meyer, who has been measuring 'Iao water levels for at least a dozen years, said saltwater intrusion has not diminished. The county would be well advised to cut back even further to see whether water levels rise and saltwater backs off, he said.
"The water department hasn't shown the interest in the management required,'' Meyer said. He doesn't trust the board to protect the aquifer, because it's difficult to say no to friends and neighbors. Giving responsibility to the state would provide a buffer to local influence, he said.
"If trouble shows up later on, and it's not on your watch, you can walk away. The commission can be legally taken to task (under the state Water Code),'' he said.
Maui Water Director David Craddick countered that the board has taken steps to protect the aquifer, including a limit on issuing building permits once pumping reaches 95 percent of sustainable yield.
"I don't see anything the water commission could do that the water department can't do,'' Craddick said. Turning over control to the state could even make things worse, he said. It might be easier for a state board to grant pumping requests because "they don't have to deal with the complaints.
By contrast, "we wouldn't have any interest in not (protecting the aquifer),'' Craddick said. "It would be like shooting yourself in the foot.''
Water officials have been looking beyond the 'Iao aquifer for future needs. For years, the Board of Water Supply has been trying to develop eight new wells in the Ha'iku area, along with a 16-mile pipeline to carry the water to Central and South Maui.
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Conservationists have gone to court to block the project, saying that pumping groundwater would leave streams too dry to recover.
Maui County Department of Water Supply workers Kelly Wright, left, and Bill Richard turn a valve at Wailoa Ditch. State leases guarantee billions of gallons of East Maui water to Central Maui sugar fields.
Their claims are contradicted by a recently completed, court-ordered final supplemental environmental impact statement that concludes development will not interfere with stream flows or overstrain water resources — a claim that Meyer believes may lead foes to challenge the project again.
Meanwhile, environmentalists and taro farmers are locked in a dispute over state leases guaranteeing billions of gallons of East Maui water to irrigate the state's largest sugar plantation, in Central Maui.
The rainwater is captured in the vast East Maui rainforests, from Nahiku to Maliko Gulch, and carried along a 75-mile network of irrigation ditches.
While environmentalists fear that A&B's recent request for 30-year leases will lock up water rights for development in Central Maui, taro farmers in Ke'anae and Wailua Nui say the ever-growing system of ditches and pipes is threatening their traditional way of life, depriving their lo'i of natural stream flows.
"It's terrible,'' said Ed Wendt, who was born on Maui and farms taro in Wailua Nui.
"I'm not saying we should keep all the water. But there needs to be a balance,'' Wendt said.
Garret Hew, manager at the sister company of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., East Maui Irrigation, said the company diverts only 15 percent of surface water while respecting traditional resource rights. The ditch system isn't big enough to catch all rainwater, he said, leaving most of it to flow to sea.
Company officials said about 5 percent of the total water intake is sold to the Board of Water Supply. The balance flows to the HC&S plantation, where it accounts for half of the plantation's water use.
Opponents of the water leases suffered a setback last month when retired Judge E. John McConnell said he would not recommend to the Board of Land and Natural Resources on Nov. 15 that the permits require an environmental assessment.
McConnell also said any local distribution of East Maui stream water should be left to the state water commission, which already has been asked formally to determine stream standards.
Moses Haia, attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said he would attend the Nov. 15 meeting to argue otherwise.
Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4880, or e-mail at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
