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….

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!

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…

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.

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

Maps Show How Water Can Be a Precious Lifeline—or a Deadly Weapon

A new atlas by “guerrilla cartographers” explores the importance of water in everything from ancient mythology to modern warfare.

By Greg Miller (National Geographic)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED

In the recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria, water has often been used as a weapon. When ISIS seized the Fallujah Barrage, a dam on the Euphrates River, in 2014, they raised the floodgates to deprive downstream cities of water.

Later, they released water from the dam in an attempt to flood approaching Iraqi forces, which eventually recaptured the dam in 2016. (See “What You Need to Know About the World’s Water Wars.”)

Water touches every aspect of human life, sometimes in unexpected ways, says Darin Jensen, a cartographer at the University of California and founder of a nonprofit group called Guerrilla Cartography.

The group’s latest project, Water: An Atlas, takes an unconventional look at the importance of water through more than 80 maps, including one showing the sites where water has played a role in the conflict with ISIS (included in the gallery above).

The maps in the atlas come from artists, activists, academics, and other mapmakers. Like the group’s first atlas, which focused on food issues, it was a crowdsourced effort. Organizers picked the theme and solicited contributions.

If interested in viewing article please see..

Also this Atlas is published on Square 

 

Pearl Harbor Study: Integration of aerial infrared thermography and in situ radon‐222 to investigate submarine groundwater discharge to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA

Abstract

Jacque L. Kelly
Henrietta Dulai
Craig R. Glenn
Paul G. Lucey

October: The largest freshwater spring complex in the Hawaiian Islands discharges groundwater into Pearl Harbor, Oahu, which is the largest estuary in the islands. This discharge occurs as subaerial and submarine springs, as non‐point‐source (diffuse) seepage, and as baseflow to streams. We conducted airborne thermal infrared remote sensing surveys of sea surface temperatures and ocean‐based 222Rn surveys of surface and deep waters to evaluate the efficacy of combining these methods to locate and quantify these differing groundwater discharges to the harbor. High spatial‐resolution (≤ 3.2 m) sea surface temperature data were advantageous for identifying and differentiating point‐source and diffuse groundwater discharge. Surveys of surface waters for 222Rn confirmed point‐source and diffuse seepage zones identified from the sea surface temperature maps. The 222Rn mid‐ and deep‐water surveys were crucial for locating benthic seepage not detectable by the remote sensing method. Groundwater discharge estimates from radon time‐series data agreed with radon surface water survey estimates. Fresh groundwater discharge estimates were also of the same order of magnitude as previous hydrologic estimates of spring discharge. We produced linearly and highly correlated relationships between plume areas and groundwater discharge by combining the thermal infrared and radon techniques. Such relationships may provide a way to up‐scale local groundwater discharge assessments to a regional area.

To see the full report see:  https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lno.11033

Hawaii’s record 2018 rains may foretell wetter times ahead

September: With warmer atmospheres and oceans, monster deluges may become ever more common there and elsewhere.
Matthew Cappucci: Science News for Students
Residents of Hawaii have survived several major deluges this year. And scientists say a warming climate may make such record-breakers ever more common.

One year ago, Hurricane Harvey shattered the U.S. record for most rain to come down in a single storm. Last month, another hurricane dropped record rains, this time on Hawaii. Named Lane, its measured tally would seem to be the highest ever for this island state, and second nationally only to what Harvey unleashed on Texas.

The previous record for a tropical cyclone in Hawaii was measured at Kanalohuluhulu Ranger Station. That was during Hurricane Hiki in 1950.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu has now confirmed that Lane dropped 132.13 centimeters (52.02 inches) of rain between August 22 and 26. That total comes from an official government rain gauge on the Big Island (named Hawaii). “The previous record was 132.08 centimeters (52.00 inches),” the NWS reported in an August 27 statement. This, it concluded, shows that “Hurricane Lane has broken the Hawaii tropical cyclone storm-total rainfall record.”

However, NWS pointed out, this record will stand only “pending verification.” Confirming the feat requires a special probe. A meteorologist at the NWS forecast office said that could take months.

link to the rest of the article…

Does Sunscreen Damage Freshwater Lakes??

July, Canadian Broadcasting Company.

My question is: I hear a sunscreen is killing the coral in the oceans and I’m wondering what it’s doing to our lakes? Does anyone know?

Britt Wray:  

And for answer we go to Dr. Linda Campbell of St. Mary’s University, and because Dr. Campbell is deaf, the voice you’re hearing is that of SMU staff interpreter Ashley Campbell.

Linda Campbell:

My name is Dr. Linda Campbell and I’m here in lovely Halifax Nova Scotia and I’m a professor here at St. Mary’s University and an environmental scientist.

I’m here to answer the question from our listener “does sunscreen cause damage to freshwater lakes similar to the damage done in coral reefs?”

So the short answer yes, but it does look different. The impacts unfortunately of many types of UV filters found in common sunscreen brands really are known to kill the organisms that form coral reefs. And as you know, Hawaii just recently actually banned many types of sunscreen.

Now freshwater lakes are not immune to the impacts from these UV filters similar to coral reefs. And there are two kinds that we are worried about: One is the carbon based UV filters and the other is nano-particulate UV filters, and that’s using zinc and titanium. Both of these types of filters negatively impact algae and fish in lakes.

The damage isn’t as obvious and as visible as the bleaching to coral reefs, but they’re still there and the damages for example include DNA damage, bio-accumulation of harmful chemicals, and lower quality and quantity of food sources at the base of the food web.

It’s easy to find sunscreen brands that contain less harmful components for the ecosystem and they don’t have those nano particulates, or have less harmful UV filters within them.

You can do some research online and look for coral reef friendly sunscreen and then you can find those brands online quite easily and it’s less harmful to the ecosystem.

Britt Wray:

Dr Linda Campbell is an environmental scientist at St Mary’s University in Halifax.