By VIRGINIA PARSONS
The Sept. 4 Viewpoint, “Water is essential for everything,” stated: “Hamakuapoko wells. These are already drilled and can safely provide new water for Upcountry almost immediately. Council Member Mike Victorino recently introduced a bill to reopen these wells as a backup source, which would provide for an estimated 500 households on the Upcountry waiting list. The bill also addresses water quality sampling and compliance to standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
As a former water board member with a focus on water quality I can say with certainty that opening Hamakuapoko would be dangerous to the public’s health, safety and welfare. In the water world there are two philosophies: academia, the universities that actually research the quality of water and thoroughly study it; and the government oversight that attends an annual water conference and meets with water engineering consultants hired to protect the water departments from public outrage and lawsuits.
I’ve learned to take what the latter says with a grain of salt.
As you will recall, it was academia that came to the rescue of the Upcountry phosphate water fiasco and found the bacteria, pathogens and virus that had bloomed in the water system. It was Boyle Engineering that came in and did a sub-par study for $500,000 and the Kula systems are still not operating well. In fact, when it comes to government oversight, it took the Environmental Protection Agency more than six months to come to Maui because then-Mayor Charmaine Tavares wanted assurances that there would be no violations issued on the Upcountry water system first. Violations are for public protection. Bad deal for us.
The fact of the matter with Hamakuapoko is that the closer you get to ocean and at the end of the agricultural fields the flow and leaching of pesticides is much greater. While we can make a well look clean, it does not necessarily stay clean and the probability of a hit is more likely. Keeping a system clean takes a lot of money and highly educated water personnel. The issues we face with our water due to our environment and agricultural history are paramount. The plain truth is our water department (as good as it is) is not a high-tech bunch that is regularly attending seminars and conferences and learning the latest techniques. Our water department depends on consultants to fill it in on what is happening. Consultants are like lobbyists, and we all know how that system works.
Hamakuapoko would take a team of water engineers, microbiologists and chemists on duty monitoring 24/7 to assure the safety of that water. The Upcountry water system is still compromised and has never been totally cleaned up in the households because the water department does not have jurisdiction to go past the meter except to test for lead. If you live Upcountry, you likely know that the cancer rates among your friends is higher and adding another compromised well into that system would only add to the already compromised cocktail online.
We need an epidemiology study for Upcountry that we’ve asked for since 2003 before we add another questionable well from downstream of the agricultural fields. The Department of Health has a problem of finding an actual control area in order to make a study because we have water issues all over Maui County. And we also need to raise water rates to support a water department that can improve the system.
* Virginia Parsons is a former county water board member. She lives in Hana.