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How Efforts To Save Hawaii’s Forests Are Preventing A ‘Freshwater Crisis’

February 18, 2021

February repeat of September Civil Beat article by Claire Caulfield.  (Larry note:  this is an excellent report on why the forests play a major role in filling the aquifers in Hawaii)

When Serene Smalley hikes into the Koolau mountains, her goal is to kill as many plants as possible. Armed with a machete and syringes full of herbicide earlier this summer, her sights were set on the mule’s foot fern: a giant Jurassic-looking plant.

Smalley pulled out her cellphone, scrolling through a map app with hundreds of white pins. Each GPS marker pins the suspected location of a mule’s foot fern. A local conservationist spent weeks during the pandemic combing through satellite images and identifying the GPS coordinates of mule’s foot ferns on the mountain range.

Oahu Watersheds Poamoho Wahiawa Serene Smalley Invasive Fern

Serene Smalley uses a machete to fell branches of the fern before injecting a small amount of pesticide into the base of the plant.

Kuʻu Kauanoe/Civil Beat

To the untrained eye, a mule’s foot fern can look like a native plant, the hapuu fern. “The hapuu is very lacy and pretty,” she said, while the fond of the invasive fern is pointed. “Which reminds me of a snake.”

Some of the offending ferns are right off the Poamoho Ridge Trail near Wahiawa, but to reach others she will have to scale steep slopes in the rain. Smalley invested $60 in specialized shoes that look like hooves and have metal spikes embedded in the soles for traction. They were designed for fishermen and she uses duct tape to stabilize her ankles for the long hike ahead.

For six years Smalley has been scaling mountains, camping on remote peaks and navigating mudslides to kill thousands of non-native plants. She’s one of only about a dozen elite volunteers trusted by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to assist in the dangerous task of eradicating invasive plants from the nearly 2.2 million acres of protected forests across the state.

“I can definitely see progress,” Smalley said. “It’s very, very rewarding.”

Oahu Watersheds Poamoho Wahiawa Summit Wide

Watersheds provide clean drinking water, carbon sequestration and help prevent floods and droughts. A University of Hawaii study estimated the Koolau Range provides between $7.4 billion and $14 billion in value to the state.

Kuʻu Kauanoe/Civil Beat

These volunteers, along with hundreds of state employees, dozens of environmental groups and an army of local hunters are fighting an uphill battle to protect Hawaii’s forests — and Hawaii’s drinking water.

Here is a link to the rest of this excellent article…

Filed Under: Groundwater, Rainfall, Stormwater, Water Conservation

Worsening drought forces state of emergency in Puerto Rico

June 30, 2020

(July/ Editor Comments:  This could happen in Hawaii!!  Puerto Rico is roughly 1/2 the size of all the Hawaiian islands combined with double the population.  Like Hawaii, Puerto Rico’s options are pretty limited in a time of water scarcity although it is located closer to the mainland.)
By DÁNICA COTO; SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor on Monday declared a state of emergency as a worsening drought creeps across the U.S. territory amid a coronavirus pandemic.

Starting July 2, nearly 140,000 clients, including some in the capital of San Juan, will be without water for 24 hours every other day as part of strict rationing measures. Puerto Rico’s utilities company urged people to not excessively stockpile water because it would worsen the situation, and officials asked that everyone use masks and maintain social distancing if they seek water from one of 23 water trucks set up across the island.

“We’re asking people to please use moderation,” said Doriel Pagán, executive director of Puerto Rico’s Water and Sewer Authority, adding that she could not say how long the rationing measures will last.

Fernanda Ramos, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service in San Juan, said ongoing dry conditions will be interrupted by thunderstorms forecast to affect the island on Wednesday and Thursday.

“However, we are not expecting enough rain… to solve the problem we’re seeing,” she said.

More than 26% of the island is experiencing a severe drought and another 60% is under a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Water rationing measures affecting more than 16,000 clients were imposed earlier this month in some communities in the island’s northeast region.

Gov. Wanda Vázquez said 21 of 78 municipalities are affected by the severe drought while another 29 by the moderate drought. An additional 12 municipalities face abnormally dry conditions. The worst of the drought is concentrated in Puerto Rico’s southern region, which continues to be affected by aftershocks following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit in early January and caused millions of dollars in damage.

An administrative order signed Monday prohibits certain activities in most municipalities including watering gardens during daylight hours, filling pools and using a hose or non-recycled water to wash cars. Those caught face fines ranging from $250 for residents to $2,500 for industries for a first violation.

Vázquez’s announcement comes amid criticism of her administration for not dredging reservoirs, which would eliminate sediment and avoid excess loss of water. Pagán said the utilities company has been in conversation with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency since Hurricane Maria about a $300 million dredging investment. She blamed the lengthy process on the number of studies and analysis needed and that require FEMA’s approval.

To see the rest of the article see this link

Filed Under: Climate Change, Rainfall, Water Conservation, Water Usage

Raise Your Hand: Honolulu Advertiser 2020/ Water In the Islands

January 20, 2020

(Editor Comment:  We commend high school senior Megan Okuma for her insightful article on water scarcity in the islands.)

By: Megan Okuma, Leilehua High School, Class of 2020.

As inhabitants of an island, most of Hawaii cannot fathom running out of water. However, although we are surrounded by such a precious resource, only 0.4% of the world’s water is drinkable. In Hawaii, most of our water comes from aquifers where it has traveled for years through soil and volcanic rock. This extensive, natural purifying system is the reason why Hawaii ranks first for water quality domestically. Yet with the population increasing and climate change affecting our rainfall patterns, Hawaii may see a decline of the cleanest water in the country within the next 100 years.

Conserving water is one of the easiest tasks in our environmental crisis to tackle as individuals because each of our actions directly affect the state of our water supply. We have complete control over the amount of water we use and if we take responsibility for this natural resource, we control the future of our water supply.

Water is not an infinite resource and, with a water cycle that has sustained Hawaii for ages, it makes more sense to change our habits rather than continue harvesting a finite resource with the same practices that created the problem in the first place. Of the 164 gallons of water used by residents every day, 100 gallons are used just for basic tasks: 20 to 50 gallons for showering, 18 to 24 gallons for flushing toilets and 26 gallons on running faucets. Through installing water- saving technology and routinely checking for leaks, the amount of water used can be reduced significantly.  Fortunately, there is an array of technology designed to combat the water crisis from focusing on bigger efforts like creating a new source of freshwater to simpler efforts like home instillations.

For the rest of the article see here…

Filed Under: Groundwater, Water Conservation, Water Technologies, Water Usage

State of Hawaii Freshwater Dashboard

October 23, 2019

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

Filed Under: Water Conservation, Water Economics, Water Usage

(Surface) Fresh Water in Hawaii

September 13, 2019

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!

Filed Under: Streams and Rivers, Water Conservation, Water Rights

How Water Footprints Can Help Us Eat Less Water

September 4, 2019

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…

Filed Under: Climate Change, Food Production, Groundwater, Water Conservation, Water Usage

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

September 4, 2019

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…

Filed Under: Groundwater, Streams and Rivers, Water Conservation, Water Pollution

Hawaii Climate Change Panel Discussion – April 25, 2019

July 6, 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

Filed Under: Climate Change, Groundwater, Water Conservation

U.S. Household Water Use Continues to Decline…

December 4, 2017

(December/Kobayashi Comment:  This trend is also seen in Hawaii although Hawaii’s population growth will likely erode this decline in the future.)

By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue:

Continuing a trend that began in the early 1990s with tighter federal plumbing standards, U.S. household water use dropped again in 2015.

When assessing national figures, there are two main ways to gauge water use at home: the amount used per person and total water use, which incorporates changes in population. By both measures, water use is declining, according to the latest report from the U.S. Geological Survey, the agency that gathers national data every five years.

For people served by public and private utilities, water use for cooking, drinking, showering, lawn watering, car washing, and other household tasks dropped to an average of 83 gallons per person per day in 2015, down seven percent compared to 2010. Household use was 105 gallons per person per day in 1990.

Link for the rest of the article

Filed Under: Groundwater, Water Conservation, Water Economics

AWWA/HWEA Pacific Water Conference

November 5, 2017

(November ) The American Water Works Association Hawai‘i Section and the Hawai‘i Water Environment Association are proud to announce the fifth annual joint conference now known as the Pacific Water Conference at the Hawai‘i Convention Center from February 6 – 8, 2018.  Our joint conference committee is hard at work to bring you an exciting, fun, and educational conference.

The Pre-Conference Workshop kicks things off on Tuesday, February 6. The Conference officially opens on Wednesday, February 7 and lasts through Thursday, February 8.  Join us at the Convention Center Kamehameha Exhibit Hall I to cheer on this year’s operator competitions featuring HWEA’s Operations Challenge and AWWA’s Pipe Tapping and Top Ops events.  Remember to check out the exhibitors showcasing the newest and latest products in the industry.  With five technical session tracks to choose from, there’s sure to be one that piques your interest.   The conference golf tournament will be held on Friday, February 9 at the Kapolei Golf Course, and the community service event will take place on Saturday, February 10.

Here is the link to register…

 

Filed Under: Groundwater, Stormwater, Streams and Rivers, Water Conservation, Water Contamination, Water Economics, Water Technologies

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About Hawaii First Water

This blog focuses on shaping water strategies for the Hawaiian Islands.

Articles

  • How Efforts To Save Hawaii’s Forests Are Preventing A ‘Freshwater Crisis’
  • Hawaii’s Fresh Water Leaks to the Ocean Through Underground Rivers
  • For Honolulu, Rising Seas Deliver Flood Risks Three Ways
  • How Efforts To Save Hawaii’s Forests Are Preventing A ‘Freshwater Crisis’
  • Worsening drought forces state of emergency in Puerto Rico

Categories

  • Climate Change
  • Rainfall
  • Groundwater
  • Water Conservation
  • Water Technologies
  • Renewable Energy

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