Groups seek to restrict water diversions

Maui News Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006 HONOLULU – Two Maui groups have filed a petition with the state Commission on Water Resource Management urging the commission to designate the Wailuku watershed to restrict water diversions by Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. The petition filed Wednesday by Earthjustice for Maui Tomorrow Foundation and Hui O Na Wai ’Eha claims the companies are seeking to “monopolize” the stream waters from Waihee to Waikapu. “These companies continue to drain Na Wai Eha (the four waters) streams dry even though their combined water uses have declined,” Earthjustice said in a statement on its petition. “Meanwhile Wailuku Water Company and A&B (parent of HC&S) are in the process of developing water treatment plants to sell treated surface water to Maui residents for private profit.” Officials with Wailuku Water and HC&S said they could not comment on the petition or the claims made by the two organizations since they have not seen the documents. But HC&S General Manager Steve Holaday said the plantation considers the irrigation water from the Wailuku watershed to be essential to 5,300 acres in sugar cane in Central Maui. He also noted that the plantation is exploring the potential for alternative energy projects involving its agricultural fields. “This water is important to the long-term viability of our agricultural operations, in addition to the long-term plans being considered by HC&S that would improve Maui’s energy self-sufficiency,” he said. Avery Chumbley, Wailuku Water Co. president, noted that the company is involved in three contested case sessions on issues raised by Hui O Na Wai ’Eha on use of the water from the four streams flowing out of the West Maui Mountains. “It would be inappropriate to comment when we haven’t seen the filings and secondly, when we are in the midst of three contested case hearings with Earthjustice and the complainants, including Maui County,” he said. In a letter to water commission Chairman Peter Young, Mayor Alan Arakawa supported the Na Wai Eha petition, saying he urged the commission in January to consider designating the Wailuku watershed as a surface water management area. “The State Water Code allows for designation when there are serious disputes over surface water,” Arakawa wrote. “This is certainly the case with respect to Na Wai Eha.” He said farmers using the water from the Waihee, Waiehu, Iao and Waikapu streams have complained that the stream diversions by the former Wailuku Sugar Co. were not leaving sufficient water for their use. The county also is using water from the diversions, through a treatment plant set up in Wailuku. Arakawa said the county “is dependent on water deliveries from a private water company that could unilaterally increase its rates or even curtail its deliveries, to the detriment of the public water supply.” The county has arranged to take up to 2 million gallons a day from the Wailuku Water Co. ditch system to supplement the water it draws from the Iao and Waihee aquifers. The water commission designated the Iao Aquifer a state water management area four years ago because the county’s use of the groundwater source was at more than 90 percent of sustainable yield. Designation of a water resource allows the water commission to impose limits on withdrawals from the water source and to require all users to file for permits to continue use of water. The Na Wai Eha petition to designate the Wailuku watershed also seeks to have the commission establish stream flow standards that will require Wailuku Water to restore stream flow. Attorney Kapua Sproat with Earthjustice noted that the Na Wai Eha community group and Maui Tomorrow have filed multiple petitions over the continued diversion of the streams by the plantations, although Wailuku Sugar shut down a decade ago. She said the companies “continue to hoard all of the water . . . and have refused for years to provide complete information on their actual end uses.” The petition to designate the surface waters is an effort “to end the companies’ attempted private monopoly over public water resources,” Sproat said. The petition notes that the Hawaii Stream Assessment prepared for the commission found the four streams warranted protection as “blue ribbon resources, meaning that they stood out as the very best in areas such as aquatic, riparian, cultural and recreational values.” It claims the companies continue diverting 60 to 65 million gallons a day “at the same levels as during the height of the plantation era, in an illegal attempt to hoard Na Wai Eha water and sell it for private profit.” (read original story here)