East Maui Streams

World Water Day March 22, 2023 at UHMC

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Please join us for a special World Water Day event hosted by the Student ʻOhana for Sustainability and Sierra Club Maui.  Come learn about the efforts on Maui to mālama our wai and how you can get involved!

Wednesday, March 22, 3-6pm on the Great Lawn at UHMC

On World Water Day, weʻll be joining communities across the world to reflect on our own water situation here at home, and what we can do to help take care of our most precious resource, both as individuals, and collectively.  We hope to see you there!

If you would like to volunteer for World Water Day, please email Tara at tapo@hawaii.edu.

 

ALERT: Water Use and Development Plan (WUDP) at County Council October 9 at 9am

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The Council vote was postponed from Sept 11 to Oct 9 and Haiku Community Association held a Town Hall on the WUDP on Sept 24.

It became clear at that Town Hall that the WUDP really needs more work to be the plan we need for the next 20 years.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION ONE MORE TIME:
The County Council will hear from the public ONE LAST TIME on the Draft Maui Water Use Development Plan (“WUDP”) before the first of two votes needed to adopt the plan.

Speak up for better water planning this Friday Oct 9 at 9am at the Council meeting.
The agenda Item is CR 20-128.

Please ask the Council to refer the Water Plan back to committee,  so that a few needed amendments can be added before it is adopted.

Please support the amendments proposed by community groups (see list below).

Online Only via BlueJeans link https://maui.bluejeans.com/295235670.

Individuals may provide oral testimony by phone or videoconference. To join the meeting by phone, call 1 408-317-9253 and input meeting code 295235670.

You can also testify with e-mail: county.clerk@mauicounty.us

Sierra Club is proposing amendments that would:

1) Have WUDP include more accurate,  updated and realistic data about ag water demand for the former HC&S Plantation lands.
Alternative scenarios included in the WUDP need to be be based not just on number of acres, but on water use per acre. This information is available.
Current WUDP water use projections of Mahi Pono ag operations using 4,000 gal per acre/day and accepting that 22% of water delivered will be lost as  “wasted water” is not a 20 year sustainable view.

2) WUDP should recommend Maui County amends its “water standard”  for resorts (currently allowing a whopping 17,000 per acre/day) to a more reasonable standard of 4,000 gpd/acre as part of overall water efficiency and conservation measures to help conserve Iao aquifer.
Maui County water standards currently allow resort properties to use up to 17,000 gallons per day per acre of potable water.  O’ahu standard is 4,000 gpd/acre.

3) Include all the updated information tables from the 2019 State Water Resources Protection Plan (WRPP) in the Maui WUDP.
Stream information has changed since 2008, as have safe withdrawal limits (“Sustainable Yield”) for all of East Maui aquifers.
The Ko‘olau and Hāna Aquifer sectors sustainable yield figures have decreased by a total of 66 million gal a day between the 2008 and 2019 WRPP.
Currently there is one 2019 WRPP map in an addendum, but every table in the WUDP has the old 2008 data.This is what will be quoted in environmental documents.

Haiku Community Association is also proposing some very needed amendments to the WUDP about:

1) Updated data and a clearer solution to the Upcountry water meter list;
2)  Public management of the East Maui ditch system;
3) True costs of the proposed Ha’iku wells, and who will foot the bill if local wells and springs are dried up:
4) More details about private water agreements the County Water Department has with A&B and others and how they affect who gets what water

All these  amendments are really needed if the Plan is to give clear guidance to our lawmakers and community over the next 20 years.

Mahalo nui. Please send your thoughts to:
county.clerk@mauicounty.us
and testify if you can with bluejeans or by phone:
https://maui.bluejeans.com/295235670
1 408-317-9253 and input meeting code 295235670

East Maui Streams Update: BLNR Did it AGAIN

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Today, November 9, 2017, the State’s Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted 5-0 to once again renew Alexander & Baldwin and East Maui Irrigation, Co.ʻs 1 year revocable permits for 2018, which allow them to take up to 80 million gallons of water a day from East Mauiʻs streams. The five members present were Keone Downing, Stan Roehrig, Thomas Oi, Suzanne Case, and Chris Yuen.

The Land Board virtually ignored the testimony of dozens of people who gave reason after reason for why these leases should not be renewed, including that A&B has shown no immediate need for access to this water. While Member Roehrig voiced that the water take should be limited to 50 mgd, the rest of the members ignored this. They did add 2 new conditions to the permit: requirement of clean up of debris around the stream diversions and that the permits must be made consistent with the Interim Instream Flow Standard (IIFS), which is currently being deliberated on and will be set by the Stateʻs Commission on Water Resources Management.

A&B has not provided the information necessary to justify authorizing a draw of 80 million gallons of water from the public. That water belongs in the streams. When actual farm plans are developed, new petitions for water that include actual data can be applied for from the Water Commission. Until then, the water belongs in the streams.

This is disappointing news, but WE WILL NOT GIVE UP. A&B does not have a right to East Maui’s streams, and we will keep fighting to change this.

 

 

 

Article in Civil Beat on the decision, featuring interview with Sierra Club Maui Executive Committee member Lucienne De Naie

http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/11/land-board-alexander-baldwin-can-keep-diverting-maui-water/

Take Action: No More Rubber Stamp for A&B to Take East Maui Streams Water

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Take Action by Wednesday, November 8th, 2017!

Once again, A&B is trying to get a one-year permit to continue diverting water from East Maui streams, with no oversight and no analysis of how these diversions continue to hurt East Maui’s residents and environment.

Click here to submit your testimony against any rubber-stamping of these permits. [link deactivated because action finished]

The Board of Land and Natural Resources is meeting Thursday morning on O’ahu – so submit your testimony by Wednesday!

If you’re on O’ahu, you can testify in person at the BLNR meeting: Thursday, Nov. 9th at 9 am, 1151 Punchbowl, Room #132

Background
In December 2016, the BLNR once again granted Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) and East Maui Irrigation (EMI) four revocable permits to continue diverting East Maui streams, with stipulations that included: capping the amount of water A&B will be allowed to extract from the East Maui ecosystem at 80 million gallons per day (down from the previous 160 million gallons per day), enforcing the July 2016 mandate that A&B fully restore stream flow in seven East Maui streams vital for taro farming, as well as adding Honomanu Stream to the list of the streams to be restored, and removing all structures adversely affecting the health of native stream species in the ecosystem.

In the past year, A&B hasn’t shown in any way that it needs this access to 80 million gallons of stream water a day. There is no reason they should get a free pass and have these permits renewed AGAIN. Instead, the BLNR should deny these permits and A&B should be required to submit an Environmental Impact Statement as soon as possible if it wants the BLNR to consider allowing it any stream water in the future.

Submit a quick testimony letter to BLNR asking them to reject the renewal of A&B’s permits. Go to: https://mauisierraclub.org/campaigns/east-maui-streams/

#eastmauistreams #waterislife #eolaikawai #olaikawai #eastmaui#nahiku #keanae #hana #huelo #AlexanderandBaldwin #water #streams #maui

https://mauisierraclub.org/campaigns/east-maui-streams/

Final Arguments in East Maui Streams Contested Case

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The State Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) will hear final arguments in the East Maui Water Contested Case on Monday, October 9th, 2017 at 5 pm at the Haʻikū Community Center.

Please come or send someone from your ʻohana to show support for East Maui ʻohana, fishermen, kalo farmers, keiki, and kūpuna.

Please note: only the lawyers will present at this meeting. There will be NO public testimony.

#eolaikawai #waterislife #eastmaui #eastmauistreams #cwrm #maui#hawaii

Take Action for East Maui Streams!

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This action has now finished.

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Tell the state: we need a FAIR & HONEST Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed A&B East Maui Stream lease.

Use the form below to submit your letter by Friday, March 10th.

Background Information

Why Does A&B need an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to divert East Maui streams?

  • Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) has requested a 30-year Water Lease from the HI State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR).
  • The lease application, if approved as is, would give A&B the right to continue to divert East Maui streams flowing through four License areas on public lands, from Honopou to Nahiku.
  • Before a lease like this can be approved, BLNR requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be commissioned.
  • The EIS is supposed to document all the ways the lease proposal could impact natural or cultural resources, and whether these impacts can be mitigated.
  • The BLNR then uses the EIS to determine whether or not to approve a lease.
Who should prepare the EIS?
  •  A&B has hired a consultant to prepare the EIS, but the leases are awarded through public bidding, and could theoretically, go to another bidder.
  • We can’t count on the EIS to have an impartial view if A&B hires, pays for, and directs the consultants who prepare this document.

Is the lease bidding process really fair, open and legitimate if A&B is the only bidder to have prepared an EIS?

  • With A&B in charge of the EIS process, the public cannot trust that the EIS findings will be complete because the consultant is first and foremost accountable to the entity that pays its bills, which is A&B.
  • Our communities have waited over 20 years for an EIS that discusses the real impacts of the longtime East Maui stream diversions. Let’s get it right!
  • We want the EIS to be as thorough as possible so that the BLNR will have adequate information to make a decision on whether to approve a lease for this area and, if so, what types of limitations or alternative options to a 30 year lease should be considered.

Send your letter to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) staff asking them to direct the preparation of this EIS.

  • This will ensure that core parts of the EIS – the definition of the current environment and the identification of alternatives – be comprehensive and encompass all the possible outcomes for the management of these waters and areas.
  • This will also help instill trust that the completed EIS will be impartial and independent of A&B’s wants.
  • Your letter will be sent to DLNR, A&B and their consultant company Wilson Okamoto Corporation. You letter both requests a change to the process as well as gives comments on what topics must be covered in the EIS, no matter who writes it.
The EIS Preparation Notice for the proposed Water Lease is available at: http://bit.ly/2m55pZn
Comments on the EIS Preparation Notice are due by Friday, March 10, 2017.