State control sought for 4 Maui streams
Two groups petition in a move to end a perceived monopoly
Two community groups have asked the state Commission on Water Resource Management to take over control of four major streams in the West Maui Mountains, alleging declines in stream flows.
Earthjustice, on behalf of Hui o Na Wai 'Eha and Maui Tomorrow Foundation Inc., filed the petition Wednesday to end the monopolization of the water by Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.
The state Water Commission has primarily managed designated groundwater areas, including central Maui's Iao aquifer.
If the petition is granted, the four streams would be the first surface water areas managed by the commission, and users would have to seek a permit to divert water.
The four streams, the Waihee, Waiehu, Iao and Waikapu, flow through some 14,000 acres of watershed lands owned by Wailuku Water Co., the major entity that diverts and delivers water.
Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., has an interest in the allocation of the water and uses about 75 percent of the 65 million gallons daily, according to Wailuku Water Co.
The county uses between 3 million to 4 million gallons a day of water from the streams.
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, who has sought to get more water for housing expansion, said he supports the petition.
Arakawa said record-keeping for use of the water is poor and has been historically poor.
He said the commission would improve the accountability of those taking water from the streams.
The mayor said he felt it was also the right time to begin a re-evaluation of the use of the water in view of the changes in agricultural practices in the last 30 years and the decrease in sugarcane acreage.
"It's obvious to anyone looking at it," he said.
Arakawa said under state law, Wailuku Water may own the delivery system, but it does not own the water.
"All the water in the state belongs to the public, and the state is authorized to enforce the rules," Arakawa said.
Maui Tomorrow board member Lucienne deNaie said that while Wailuku Water has said there is no excess water, it has been moving forward with plans to establish a commercial water company.
Earthjustice attorney Kapua Sproat said the groups' petition is the latest effort to end the companies' attempted private monopoly over public water resources, in violation of Hawaii law establishing water as a public trust.
"This is 2006, not 1906, and the days when plantations were able to hold the people of Maui hostage by monopolizing their life-giving waters are long gone," Sproat said.
Sproat said the streams are directly connected to the recharge of the ground water at Iao and neighboring areas and should also fall under management of the commission.
Alexander & Baldwin officials said they have not had the opportunity to review the petition but the West Maui water is essential to the firm's irrigation of some 5,300 acres of sugarcane land.
In addition to agriculture, Hawaiian Commercial's biomass plant provides about 10 percent of the residential electricity consumed on the Valley Isle.
"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," said Steve Holaday, general manager of HC&S.
Wailuku Water Co. President Avery Chumbley declined to comment, noting that his company was in legal proceedings with the petitioners on other matters before the commission.