Hawaii First Water

Mayor: Maui Will Not Withdraw Supreme Court Appeal in Lahaina Injection Well Case

(Editor Comment:  Environmentalists would like to settle this case out of court fearing that a more conservative Supreme Court will weaken the Federal Clean Water Act.)

October 2019: Maui Now: Wendy Osher: Maui Mayor Michael Victorino says the County of Maui will not withdraw its appeal of the Lahaina injection well case from consideration by the US Supreme Court.

He is now seeking clarification from the high court saying, “I want Maui County taxpayers and ratepayers to have their day before the US Supreme Court and get clarity on this important question on the application of the Clean Water Act.”

In a statement issued on Friday, Mayor Victorino said:

“To allow this to go unanswered leaves us vulnerable to more lawsuits, to uncertain regulatory requirements and staggering costs – all for what would be a negligible environmental benefit. The legal exposure is immense, not only for the County but for private property owners as well. It goes far beyond injection wells. The Ninth Circuit’s decision means that many County facilities – including Parks, Public Works, Environmental Management are likely in violation of the federal law as it’s interpreted by this court. Penalties can be imposed of nearly $55,000 per day per source. The effect on private property values, and the associated property taxes which fund the majority of County operations, cannot be ignored.”

Attached is Mayor Victorino’s letter to Maui County residents and a Corporation Counsel opinion on settlement authority. Letters, memorandums and other documents connected with the case can be found online.

Four community groups, represented by Earthjustice (Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation, with support from Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund and West Maui Preservation Association) filed a complaint with in Hawai‘i Federal District Court in 2012, alleging that Maui County was in violation of the Clean Water Act for its injection well discharges of municipal wastewater into the Pacific Ocean just offshore of Kahekili Beach Park in West Maui.

The groups claim that pollutants from the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility are flowing to the ocean and harming coral reefs.  Environmental groups who brought the lawsuit say they’re asking the County to fix nearshore deadzones and give Maui’s reefs a chance to recover.

The rest of the Maui Now article is here….

State of Hawaii Freshwater Dashboard

October 2019  (Editor Comment:  According the State of Hawaii Dashboard, as of April 2019, the state estimated that we saved about 11 million gallons of water per day (gwd) of our target of 100 million gwd which we are aiming to hit by 2030.

  • We have used about 4 years of our 14 year timeline which is about 29% of our time period.
  • Ideally we would be hitting about 30 million gwd rather than 11 million gwd, which suggests we are slowly falling behind our target.

Is there any hope that we will actually achieve our 2030 water goal?  Regretfully climate change is making this an uphill battle.  But there is room for optimism.

  • The population increase is slowing on the islands and more and more low water appliances are being used by Hawaii households.
  • The increasing funds for watershed conservation and the implementation of stormwater utilities will also have a positive impact on replenishing our groundwater reserves.

The reuse of wastewater by businesses remains the speed bump in the road, smart regulations and increased incentives toward sustainability practices will help.

Here is the link to the Water Dashboard

Increase Fresh Water Capacity by 100 Million Gallons per Day

HOW WE’RE TRACKING PROGRESS: The baseline is 0 starting January 1, 2016. This goal is measured by tracking increased additional, reliable fresh water capacity from water conservation, recharge, and reuse.Explore the data
11Million Gallons per Day of Water Recharge, Conservation, and Reuse
Current as of Apr 2019

Maui County committee agrees to settle injection well case

September 2019; WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — County officials have recommended settling with environmental groups that sued over the use of injection wells.

Members of the Maui County Committee on Governance, Ethics, and Transparency voted 5-3 to recommend that the full council settle and remove the case ahead of U.S. Supreme Court consideration in November.

See the rest of the article here...

(Surface) Fresh Water in Hawaii

September 2019: (Editor Comment:  This Bibliography was probably put together to help address all the issues of water in Maui) University of Maui College: This bibliography has been developed to support research on surface water rights in Hawai‘i, focusing particularly on works that detail the history and development of Hawaiian water rights.  The intended audience are landowners, in Hawai‘i, seeking to understand their own water rights. Nevertheless, this bibliography is also targeted at post-high students and researchers interested in water rights and law and assumes a basic understanding of land and water rights in Hawai‘i.

Please use this link to see the bibliography!

How Water Footprints Can Help Us Eat Less Water

September 2019, (Editor Note: This article originally appeared in 2017 but is worth repeating because of its ability to demonstrate how much water we use without giving it much thought…  In the future, this will have to change or the lack of water will negatively impact the quality of our lives…) 

By Robin Madel and Kai Olson-Sawyer , Senior Research and Policy Analysts at GRACE Communications Foundation.

How  do we get Americans to conserve water? The first step is to show just much water it takes to make the average American’s lifestyle possible. But water conservation means a lot more than the typical advice to take shorter showers and wash fewer loads of laundry. While such actions are important, there are other ways to save much more.

Those who use GRACE Communications Foundation’s Water Footprint Calculator know that diet makes up the largest part of our individual water footprints. This is part of what’s called “virtual” water use, or the amount of water required to produce the food we eat, energy we use and the things we buy. Even though the water consumed to produce these items can’t be seen or felt, it comprises the majority of our water footprint.

Agriculture’s Big Water Footprint

In the United States, agriculture is a major surface and groundwater user. In fact, a full 80 percent of all consumptive water use in the US comes from agriculture. When the historic California drought hit two seasons ago, many were shocked by what were once considered arcane facts about the water used to produce our food. Headlines about how it takes just over one gallon of water to produce an almond were common.

Generally, the water footprint of fruits, vegetables, grains and pulses (like beans) is smaller than that of meat, dairy and nuts. Beef is the king of big water footprints: It takes about 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. This is because cattle are physically large, have relatively long lives, eat so much food and are rather inefficient at converting feed to meat (compared to, say, chickens). In the United States, most beef cattle are raised on feedlots for a large portion of their lives, and while there, they eat feed made from grains like corn, sorghum, barley and oats – lots of it. It takes a tremendous amount of water to grow feed, especially the grains that go into cattle feed. This can be problematic for strained water resources when those crops are irrigated.

In addition to water for animal feed, how and where water is used has a large impact. Crops grown in areas with abundant rainfall tend to put less pressure on water resources. On the other hand, thirsty crops grown in arid locations or areas prone to drought can challenge sustainable water use when irrigation is necessary. There are additional challenges when vulnerable water sources are used to boost crop yields. For example, irrigation nearly doubled from 2002 to 2016 in the water-stressed Republican River basin through parts of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Competition between different types of water users is another source of trouble. A large share of US crops are grown in areas where such competition for water exists, as is the case in California and other arid Western states, the drought-prone Southeast and even the Great Plains where a major aquifer is being drained from agricultural overuse. Different sectors, including energy, industry, residential and the natural environment, all have specific water demands that compete with agriculture.

In the end, no location is immune from drought or water resource problems, even if only on a temporary basis. As rainfall and drought patterns continue to shift and intensify, water supplies will become increasingly stressed, which will have an inordinate effect on farming and food production. To use water more sustainably, farmers and food companies find that they must measure and understand how water is used along the production chain, which helps them recognize the extent of their water use and identify areas where they can cut back. At the same time, farmers, ranchers and other producers must be aware of water pollution that occurs within the process. This is important because pollution increases water use since more water is required to help clean up pollution.

For the rest of this article see…

Maui County Running Out Of Time To Settle Clean Water Act Case

Aug 2019: Civil Beat: Author: Nathan Eagle; Maui County Council members are expected to decide Tuesday (3 Sept 2019)  if they want to go against Mayor Michael Victorino and settle a major Clean Water Act case instead of letting a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court decide it in November.

The four environmental groups that brought the lawsuit delivered petitions this week with more than 15,000 signatures to Council Chair Kelly King. They are urging the council to step in now so it can spare the county — and the country — from an unfavorable judgment.

The Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club-Maui Group, Surfrider Foundation and West Maui Preservation Association sued in 2012 after trying for years to reach an agreement with the county over its Lahaina wastewater reclamation facility, which has been releasing treated water into the ground that ends up entering the ocean and harming coral reefs.

The conflict revolves around the adverse effect of the effluent discharge on the coral reefs and marine ecosystem at Kahekili on Maui.

District and appeals courts have ruled that the county needs a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the facility, which handles about 3 million to 5 million gallons of sewage a day. It serves about 40,000 people. 

But Victorino is fighting that decision and has succeeded in getting the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Environmentalists are concerned that the court’s decision would gut the Clean Water Act, a situation that would have implications far beyond Hawaii.

For the rest of the Civil Beat article click here…

Hawaii Climate Change Panel Discussion – April 25, 2019

July 2018

Climate Change Panel Discussion – April 25, 2019

APRIL 25, 2019 – Members of the Board of Water Supply Stakeholder Advisory Group had the opportunity to learn about the impact of climate change on Hawaii.

Video Presentation Links (Vimeo)

If you would like to watch a specific presentation or just the Q&A, please use the following Vimeo links.

  1. Presentation by Dr. Charles H. Fletcher, III (Chip), UH Manoa, SOEST – Part I
  2. Presentation by Dr. Thomas Giambelluca, UH Manoa, Department of Geography and Environment
  3. Presentation by Dr. Charles H. Fletcher, III (Chip), UH Manoa, SOEST – Part II
  4. Presentation by Joshua Stanbro, Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency
  5. Presentation by Barry Usagawa, Board of Water Supply, Water Resources Division
  6. Question & Answer Session: Climate Change Panel

Opinion: House Bill 1326 Regarding Maui Stream Diversion

By Gary Hooser | April 21, 2019/ Star Advertiser Opinion:

In my 20 years of experience in government, politics and policy-making, House Bill 1326 is the most egregious example of special-interest legislation I have ever seen.

Fortunately the state Senate has taken time to listen to public concerns. After weighing both sides, conducting a thorough public hearing, asking tough questions and even visiting the Maui community most impacted, the Senate led by Water and Land Committee Chairman Kai Kahele has decided to shelve HB 1326.

Key Senate members have stated publicly they have no intention of passing HB 1326, but technically, it remains alive. Until the session ends May 2, anything can happen.

Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) stands to gain or lose $62 million, depending on the outcome of HB 1326. In essence, it is attempting to sell public trust water rights derived from stream diversions in east Maui. The intended beneficiary of this transaction is Mahi Pono — a California-based LLC, financed by a Canadian pension fund — which recently purchased the majority of A&B lands on Maui.

One fairly significant problem with this proposal is that A&B neither owns, nor has long-term control over this water.

In Hawaii, whether beneath the ground or flowing through our rivers and streams, water is a public trust resource. Businesses may use the resource, but must secure a permit that ensures sufficient water remains in the stream to preserve its natural ecosystem and that down-stream users also have access.

Yet this one company, the last remnant of the “Big 5” plantation era, and arguably the most politically powerful private landowner in Hawaii, is attempting, with the Legislature’s help, to secure those water rights without securing the proper long-term permits, and then transfer those water rights to Mahi Pono — pocketing a cool $62 million in the process.

The original HB 1326 proposed giving A&B and a handful of others an unlimited amount of time to divert an unlimited amount of water, without securing the permits and without ensuring environmental or down-stream user protections.

The present measure, HB 1326 House Draft 2, allows them 10 years, three of which have already passed, to comply with permitting requirements and convert their “temporary” one-year revocable permits (RPs) to proper long-term water leases.

Though A&B is the primary proponent and largest beneficiary of the measure, nine other RPs also are impacted by HB 1326 HD2, including some utilized by small ranchers and farmers.

The current controversy surrounding the plight of the small farmer and rancher is a manufactured crisis, perpetuated by the primary beneficiaries of HB 1326 HD2 and designed to promote fear and uncertainty.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) has issued RPs to small users in the past without a problem. There is no specific legal impediment that prevents DLNR from extending the temporary RPs of these particular small farmers and ranchers while they pursue long-term leases.

The DLNR could provide certainty today, to all concerned by simply announcing its intent to continue extending the RPs of small users, so long as they demonstrate good faith and positive intent in pursuing a proper long-term water lease.

To his credit, Kahele, while acknowledging that DLNR could act unilaterally to resolve the situation, offered up a compromise that protected the little guy, while holding A&B accountable. Unfortunately, this overture was rejected.

The underlying problem is DLNR’s inability to manage the permit process. However, it’s neither the Legislature’s job nor in the public’s best interest to attempt to fix bad management with bad special-interest legislation.

And it’s certainly not the Legislature’s job to bail out a company that sold water rights it does not own.

It’s time the Legislature demand that the DLNR do its job. We, the collective community and the Legislature, need to move past the distraction and passions generated by HB 1326, and focus instead on the myriad other important bills begging for our time and attention.

Gary Hooser, a former state senator and Kauai Council member, is board president of Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA) and executive director of Pono Hawaii Initiative.

Ocean sensors help UH researchers understand Hawaiʻi Island aquifers

May/University of Hawaii: Parrotfish, Pike, Pompano and Perch were instrumental in helping University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers gain a better understanding of Hualālai aquifer on Hawaiʻi Island. The four marine electric-field receivers, dubbed with common fish names, are part of state-of-the-art technology used by researchers from ʻIke Wai, a large-scale, multidisciplinary project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The nine-person research team conducted an eight-day marine survey and covered approximately 200 kilometers to gain a better understanding of how freshwater releases into the ocean from below the seafloor. Eric Attias, a postdoctoral researcher at the UH Mānoa served as chief scientist.

The backbone of the study uses a surface-towed marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) system called Porpoise that was recently developed by the Electromagnetic Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

“You have two novelties here, you have a very new system, in terms of worldwide, which is one-of-a-kind, and the second novelty is the capability of this system to detect deep submarine groundwater deposits. Hence, both the technology and its application are new,” said Attias.

Researchers can differentiate between fresh and salt water in submarine groundwater systems through the use of the new technology. CSEM is being used like MRI imaging to map the electrical resistivity of the groundwater structures along the coast up to about 500 meters below the seafloor.

For more information see…

Hawaii Water Rights Bibliography

(Updated Feb 2019) This bibliography was compiled by Shavonn Matsuda for LIS 687, Spring 2012, at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

This bibliography has been developed to support research on surface water rights in Hawai‘i, focusing particularly on works that detail the history and development of Hawaiian water rights.  The intended audience are landowners, in Hawai‘i, seeking to understand their own water rights. Nevertheless, this bibliography is also targeted at post-high students and researchers interested in water rights and law and assumes a basic understanding of land and water rights in Hawai‘i.

Here is the link to the bibliography