Amounts of water returned by HC&S to depend on season

MAUI NEWS
May 26, 2010
By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

PAIA – State Commission on Water Resource Management members reached a historic compromise Tuesday night, returning some water to six East Maui streams but leaving both sides in the water dispute dissatisfied.

Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar General Manager Chris Benjamin called it “another bite from the apple,” noting that the commission’s action came in addition to losing millions of gallons a day in eight other streams in a commission decision two years ago. HC&S also is awaiting a contested case ruling that could mean that Hawaii’s last sugar producer will lose another 34.5 million gallons a day in the Central Maui Na Wai Eha, or four great streams, debate.

The complainants’ attorney, Alan Murakami, of Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., immediately called for – and had recognized – a contested case hearing request the moment the proceedings ended. That means the plaintiffs will seek binding arbitration for another, more favorable result.

The commission voted to restore water to four streams, Waikamoi, West and East Wailuaiki and Waiohue, only in the wet season, with 1.68 million gallons per day, 2.46 mgd, 2.39 mgd and 2.07 mgd, respectively. In the dry season, West and East Wailuaiki and Waiohue will get 0.26 mgd, 0.13 mgd and 0.06 mgd, respectively.

The county Department of Water Supply lobbied hard for the commission to leave Waikamoi alone since it primarily serves 10,000 Upcountry customers. In the dry season, water diversions will remain in place and no stream water from Waikamoi will be restored.

Two other streams, Makapipi and Hanawi, will receive more water year-round, or annually, totaling 0.66 mgd.

The commission voted unanimously, noting that restoring Makapipi would assist taro farmers who already work the stream.

Commissioners also restored the stream at Hanawi at a rate of 0.06 mgd year-round.

The commission members include William Balfour, Neal Fujiwara, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Donna Fay Kiyosaki and Dr. Lawrence Miike. Commissioner Sumner Erdman recused himself since he is president of Ulupalakua Ranch, which receives Upcountry water.

State Department of Land and Natural Resources Board Chairwoman Laura Thielen is also chairwoman of the commission. Thielen, Balfour, Kiyosaki, Fukino and Fujiwara all voted for the four-stream deal. Miike was against the four-stream compromise.

Balfour said he had a problem with restoring Waikamoi stream since the county’s flume is old and leaky, but he eventually voted for it. He acknowledged that the county is ready to spend $500,000 this year on designs and is committed to rehabilitating the flume.

“We are going to be back for this,” Balfour said of all the streams. “I think we should see how it works out and return to this.”

Miike disagreed with both restoring water only annually and going with the staff recommendations instead of the Division of Aquatic Resources, which would have included putting stream water back into the Kopiliula, Puakaa, Haipuaena streams.

Miike offered a motion to restore water to all the streams but was quickly voted down.

Commissioners spent Tuesday hearing final presentations from groups including the Nahiku Community Association, Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. and Maui County.

This decision by the water commisison could settle a decadelong legal battle by environmentalists and Native Hawaiian groups against HC&S and the county Department of Water Supply over 14 East Maui streams.

Commission staff recommended that 10.46 mgd be restored to streams, to provide habitat for native plants and animals, and to improve conditions for Hawaiian taro farmers in the region.

The report revises an earlier recommendation made in December, which called for water to be restored to only one of the streams.

Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. attorney Alan Murakami, who is representing the petitioners seeking to increase stream flow, said Tuesday that he is generally satisfied with the new staff recommendation.

He noted that HC&S currently draws 88 percent of the water in all East Maui streams, using an average 167 mgd, in addition to 72 mgd it pumps from wells. With that in mind, Murakami said what his clients were asking for was reasonable.

“We are asking for a percentage of a percentage of a percentage. It is not all the water that some people say,” Murakami said.

But HC&S General Manager Chris Benjamin said the plantation, which has suffered under drought and deep losses for the past several years, needs every drop.

HC&S uses the East Maui stream and well water to irrigate about 30,000 acres in the Central Maui valley and provides more than 800 full-time jobs, plus work for dozens of vendors, such as for people who sell heavy equipment and fuel.

“We don’t totally support the staff recommendation,” Benjamin said.

Instead, he supported the commission staff’s December report.

He also said that if the commission were to order the release of additional water, it should be required only during the wet season, not in the dry summer months.

Staff presented their new recommendations Tuesday. Commissioners in December said they weren’t satisfied with the initial staff report and asked for a more balanced proposal.

They also instructed the opposing interest groups to provide more information and work harder to reach a compromise.

The new staff recommendations include:

* East Wailuaiki Stream: restore 2.4 mgd within a year.

* West Wailuaiki Stream: restore 2.5 mgd within a year.

* Hanawai Stream: restore 0.06 mgd within a year.

* Makapipi Stream: restore 0.6 mgd within in a year (uncertain if the water exists to achieve this goal).

* Waikamoi Stream: restore 2.8 mgd after the other recommendations go into effect.

* Waiohue Stream: restore 2.1 mgd at the same time as Waikamoi.

More than 40 residents signed up on Tuesday to testify before the commission.

Chairwoman Laura Thielen kept the meeting moving along, limiting testifiers to two minutes each, and asking people who spoke at previous meetings to consider stepping aside so the commission would have time to make a decision that evening.

The lines were almost evenly drawn between people who wanted the streams restored and supporters of HC&S and Upcountry farmers who said the water was critical to preserving agriculture on Maui.

“I would like to see you restore all of the streams and get rid of all of the diversions for the next 100 years and see what grows and what dies,” said Hana land owner Kaniloa Kamauna.

Maui Electric Co. president Ed Reinhart said HC&S provides a “critical” power supply by burning cane byproducts. The company produces about 8 percent of Maui’s electricity, he said.

“Please don’t take what little water that we already have,” said fifth generation HC&S employee Keith Watimar.

Thirty-three-year HC&S employee Sheldon Biga said that without the water, “HC&S will not survive . . . Maui will not survive.”

A group of 15 Native Hawaiians who are also HC&S employees, led by machinist Wes Bissen, stood up together and said that wanting to maintain the company’s present water allocations and preserve its viability does not “make them any less Hawaiian.”

But Irene Bowie, executive director of the Maui Tomorrow Foundation, said that the commission should demand greater efficiencies from HC&S, which she and others have accused of losing millions of gallons to a leaky system.

She also reiterated concerns that the Alexander & Baldwin subsidiary ultimately plans to subdivide and develop many of the 35,000 acres now planted in sugarcane.

“We believe we are placing unsustainable demands on the East Maui watershed,” said Luciene de Naie of the Sierra Club.

She said that no matter what decision the commission makes, in the long-term there is not enough stream water to support HC&S.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares said that if the commission agrees with the staff recommendation to return 2.8 mgd to Waikamoi Stream, it would negatively impact Upcountry residents, ranchers and farmers who get their water from the HC&S stream diversions.

Clark Hashimoto, who oversees the county’s 454-acre Kula Agricultural Park, said that the park’s 26 farmers produce up to $10 million a year in vegetables, plants and flowers. They use up to 800,000 mgd of nonpotable water, he said.

Hashimoto said that the farmers are already hurt by the multiyear drought. Take away any more water from them, “and we will lose farmers,” Hashimoto said.

Pam Tumpap, executive director of the Maui Chamber of Commerce, said her group voted to support the status quo. She said she understands that the commissioners are looking for a balanced solution, but she said that people don’t know what a balanced solution is.

Nahiku Community Association Vice President Mapu Kekahuna said residents use Makapipi stream to grow taro to feed their families. The stream is deteriorating due to a lack of water, he said.

He said the association supports the stream’s restoration, as long as the water flow reaches the ocean perennially, adding that Nahiku Community Association members would like to see all the streams restored, but they also don’t want to see HC&S go out of business.

“I want to see us live in harmony, so we don’t have this divisive issue lingering over us,” he said.