Maui Tomorrow Foundation

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URGENT: Opportunity to Testify Requesting Amendments to the WUDP THIS FRIDAY, October 9th

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT, COMMUNITY PLANNING, WATER / by

There is a new opportunity this Friday to provide public input about the Maui Water Use Development Plan.

The Maui County Council vote on the Maui Water Use & Development Plan (WUDP) was postponed from Sept 11th to Oct 9th, and Haiku Community Association held a Town Hall on the WUDP on Sept 24. At this town hall, it became clear that the WUDP really needs more work to be the plan we need for the next 20 years.

The Council will hear from the public ONE LAST TIME on the WUDP before the first of two votes needed to adopt the plan. You are encouraged to 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 WUDP back to committee,  so that a few needed amendments can be added before it is adopted.

Testimony can be given online via this 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 by e-mail to: county.clerk@mauicounty.us

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

Sierra Club is proposing these recommended amendments:

  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 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 necessary amendments to the WUDP regarding:

  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

Maui Tomorrow agrees that all of these amendments are needed if the Water Use & Development Plan is to give clear guidance to our lawmakers and community over the next 20 years.

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