The spotlight cast on the stewardship of West Maui’s water supply after Lahaina’s devastating Aug. 8 fire presents an opportunity for the state and the community to reimagine how this precious public resource can be managed.
“In light of the devastation we are currently dealing with, we are now presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make right the historical wrongdoing on our people by Pioneer Mill, the tourism industry and governing entities,” said Tiare Lawrence, a Maui activist. “There’s hope among many people in this room that the ecosystem and kanaka can flourish together once more.”
Lawrence spoke at a meeting of the state Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) in Wailuku last week. It lasted nine hours. About 200 people showed up, many of them voicing views similar to Lawrence’s.
Many Native Hawaiians and community activists envision a restoration of Maui Komohana (from Ukumehame to Honokohau, including Lahaina) — one that approaches what existed before the plantations and resorts, with traditional crops of taro and breadfruit, fishponds and streams flowing freely without diversion.
It’s an ambitious goal — probably overly so in today’s world. But it points in a better direction.
West Maui’s water distribution system was built for another time, when extensive irrigation networks diverted water from streams for large-scale sugar and pineapple plantations. Those plantations are gone, and successor companies like West Maui Land Co. now develop real estate, including homes and luxury resorts. Golf courses, lawns and landscaping flourish, while large tracts of agricultural land have gone fallow — a dangerous fire risk that contributed to the Lahaina disaster, along with high winds.
Still, the irrigation systems remain and private companies control 75% of the stream water in West Maui, while Maui County oversees just 25%.
Should that change? It can. Last year, the Lahaina Aquifer Sector was designated as a surface and ground water management area. This gave CWRM the power to require and approve permits for the “withdrawal, diversion, impoundment, or consumptive use of surface or ground water” in West Maui, according to a public notice issued by the commission.
At last week’s meeting, CWRM staff reported that 116 water permit applications were received from West Maui.
CWRM’s decisions about these and future requests need to address some hard realities acknowledged by the commission. Among them: water demand outstripping supply, saltwater intrusion, climate uncertainty, less rainfall and potential drought. Studies show that continuing drought conditions can reduce aquifer groundwater recharge by as much as 24% compared to average climate conditions. CWRM also noted the “serious historic and ongoing disputes over current and planned uses of water.”
The State Water Code and Hawaii’s Constitution establish freshwater resources as a public trust, to be managed for the public good. That means CWRM may be required to question, and challenge, the interests of the large landowning companies, which are loathe to give up their access to the water and quick to protect their interests.
Shortly after the Lahaina fire, Glenn Tremble of the West Maui Land Co. asked CWRM for “ongoing authorization” to fill its reservoirs when a fire is reported; a suspension of interim in-stream flow standards and other regulations until the emergency period ends; and amendments to inflow stream standards to allow the company to keep more water “for fire suppression and our community as we face dry months in the years to come.”
It’s true that stored water in former plantation reservoirs can be used for helicopter drops to suppress or douse fires, if weather conditions permit. That should figure into CWRM’s fire-prevention plans. But CWRM should be skeptical of narrowly focused, self-interested requests from large landowners. It should take a more holistic approach, one that keeps more water in the streams, encourages conservation methods such as expanding the use of nonpotable and recycled water, and greens up neglected open spaces.
