Water director: Planned facility ’savior’

By BRIAN PERRY, Assistant City Editor

WAILUKU – Water Director Jeff Eng calls a planned Waiale water treatment facility a “savior” in helping quench the thirst for water in Central and South Maui.

Still in its design stages, the completed plant is 18 months to two years in the future. In the meantime, water officials are stressing the need for water conservation and working on the development of other sources of water, with those adding nearly 4 million gallons per day over the course of the next few years.

For safety reasons, county water officials would prefer to have nearly three times the daily water capacity in reserve, but now it’s only half that. For the week of Sept. 20 through Wednesday, Central and South Maui residents used 26.6 million gallons per day, on average.

To be located behind Maui Community Correctional Center on Waiale Road, the planned Waiale treatment plant is being developed jointly by the county Department of Water Supply and Alexander & Baldwin Inc., which would share equally the plant’s planned production of 9 million gallons of water per day.

Last week, the Board of Water Supply recommended spending $15 million in county funds on the plant, and, according to Deputy Water Director Eric Yamashige, A&B’s financial com-

mitment would be about the same.

A&B Properties Vice President Grant Chun declined to comment on the development of the new water treatment plant, deferring to Eng and county water officials.

A&B is working on the facility design, which is about 75 percent complete, Yamashige said. Water tapped from the Waihee Ditch would flow into the plant and be treated with microfiltration systems.

The Waiale facility would be the second water treatment plant in Central Maui. The county already has a plant in Iao Valley treating 2.5 million gallons per day from surface water sources.

Details of how the county and A&B would share water treated at the Waiale plant are being worked out, Yamashige said. A draft agreement will be reviewed by the Board of Water Supply and Mayor Charmaine Tavares before being submitted to the Maui County Council.

The state Department of Health also needs to review a preliminary engineering report for the project, Eng said. Appropriate zoning and land use designations already are in place for the planned development.

The water director said he would like to see the treatment plant project moved forward and expedited.

“That will be a major new water source for Central Maui,” he said. “We’re hopefully looking at a two-year time frame to get that on line.” But, he said, sooner would be better.

One possible legal complication could be the Na Wai Eha contested case in which Earthjustice, Hui O Na Wai ’Eha and the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs are asking the state Commission on Water Resource Management to restrict water diversions by Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., which is owned by A&B.

Eng said he asked A&B officials whether there could be complications stemming from the contested case, and he was assured that A&B has rights to the water and that those rights would not be adversely affected.

“We will find out as this contested case proceeds later this year,” Eng said.

Plaintiffs in the case are seeking the restoration of stream flows in the Na Wai Eha (the four waters of Eha), the stream waters from Waihee to Waikapu.

Those waters were developed as a source for irrigation in the mid-1800s by the predecessors to Wailuku Sugar Co., which became Wailuku Agribusiness Co. and later Wailuku Water. The surface water continues to be used for agriculture, with a substantial portion of the flow being claimed by HC&S.

Meanwhile, the water department is working on developing other sources of water for the Central Maui system, which extends from Waihee, Wailuku and Kahului to Paia and Kuau, and to Maalaea, Kihei and Wailea. Which will benifit Waliea condos for sale

Before the end of this year, the department aims to get on line its Kupaa well, which would draw about 1.5 million gallons per day from the Waihee aquifer, Eng said. A pump already has been installed, but there are some design issues to overcome before it can become fully operational.

Then, in a year or less, the department is planning to get three Maui Lani wells on line, he said. Those could add about 1 mgd from the Kahului aquifer.

In Waikapu, the water department also is developing a new well to add another 1.2 mgd to the Central Maui system, Eng said. Money for that project has been budgeted in the fiscal year 2009. That well has not been drilled yet, and there are some easement issues to resolve to get the department access to the well site, he said.

Eng said, water planners are keenly aware of the need to shut down Shaft 33, which taps about 5 mgd from the Iao aquifer. But it needs to be phased out because of its age and the difficulty of maintaining it. It could be taken offline after other new wells, which would spread out pumping in the area, come on line, he said.

The county continues to get water from its Iao tunnel and Kepaniwai wells, which combined provide about 2.5 mgd. With all the Kihei Maui condos for sale, this is a necessary County decision.