The commission\u2019s goal with these orders is to increase flow in He\u2018eia Stream. Over the past two decades, non-profit groups have restored acres of lo\u2018i kalo (taro patches) and an ancient Hawaiian loko i\u2018a (fishpond) that rely on the stream\u2019s flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s a lot of time, energy and resources, and funding that have been put towards the restoration of an ahupua\u2018a. What we want to see is 100 percent return of water … to He\u2018eia,\u201d Paepae o He\u2018eia executive director Hi\u2018ilei Kawelo told the commission last month via video recorded testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While standing in the pond itself, she showed how, in the past, they used to let a trickle of water from the stream enter the fishpond through a gate, leaving the rest to flow into the ocean. In recent months, however, stream flow has dropped so low that they\u2019ve boarded up the gate, regardless of how badly the pond\u2019s fish need the freshwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the ecosystem needs that water to flow into the ocean, as well, it would be irresponsible for Paepae o He\u2018eia to lift the boards that are keeping the water in the stream, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, \u201cthe health of the loko i\u2018a is hampered by the lack of freshwater. … Freshwater is the engine that drives productivity,\u201d added Keli\u2018i Kotubetey, assistant executive director of Paepae o He\u2018eia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They and other staff from the groups working in He\u2018eia have testified that the fishpond is too salty and stagnant, and that despite clearing acres of thick mangrove to allow stream water to enter the \u2018auwai, flow from the stream still doesn\u2019t reach all the lo\u2018i that have been restored so far. It was \u201cincredibly heartbreaking,\u201d testified Nicholas Reppun, a farmer with the group Kako\u2018o \u2018Oiwi, which is restoring and expanding the lo\u2018i just Mauka of the fishpond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the Hawai\u2018i constitution, maintaining waters in their natural state and the use of water in the exercise of native Hawaiian and traditional and customary rights are protected, public trust uses that would seem to take priority over watering golf course greens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Strauch has repeatedly pointed out, some of largest users of freshwater in the island\u2019s Ko\u2018olau Poko district are golf courses. The largest user by far is the Kane\u2018ohe Marine Corps Base, which also has a golf course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of those large users, including the base, receive water from the BWS\u2019s 272-foot elevation system, and not from the 500-foot system that draws water from sources that would otherwise feed He\u2018eia Stream. Even so, Strauch pointed out that as of March, the BWS was dropping 0.89 mgd from its 500-foot system into its 272-foot system, which receives water from a variety of sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strauch suggested that if the Marine base went back to using recycled water on its golf course, that would lessen the need to transfer so much water from the 500-foot system, and, therefore, lessen the need to take water from sources that feed He\u2018eia Stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrying to rectify how we manage sources with permits and end uses that may not be consistent with protecting public trust needs is challenging and we don\u2019t have all the tools that we might want, but this is a really good first step,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BWS manager Ernie Lau supported the notion of getting the Kane\u2018ohe Marine Base to return to watering its golf course with recycled water. And BWS program administrator Barry Usagawa said he had recently spoken to base personnel about it and reported that it likely wouldn\u2019t happen until sometime after the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that the state Department of Health restricts the use of R2 water \u2014 which is what the base\u2019s wastewater treatment plant produces \u2014 and requires a 500-foot buffer between where it is used for irrigation and the nearest homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the base wants to spray its green spaces with the recycled water, it\u2019s planning to plant a tree buffer around the homes. Usagawa said that the base planned to award tree-planting contract toward the end of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He argued that it would be simpler to find a solution within the 500-foot system, rather than try to force conservation measures outside of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that in the 500-foot system, the largest water user is the state hospital in Kane\u2018ohe, which being renovated but is planning to reopen in two months at a larger capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is using 23,000 gallons a day during construction. At full buildout, he said, it will use 200,000 gallons per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anticipating that the Water Commission would require it to reduce its withdrawal of water from the Ha\u2018iku Tunnel, the BWS has recently reduced its take from about 1 mgd to 0.5 mgd. The reopening of the hospital will all but erase that progress at the same time the commission is asking the BWS to bring its tunnel withdrawals down to 0.3 mgd \u2014 \u201ca double whammy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that the commission was asking the BWS to cut back 85 percent of its permitted use for the area. \u201cWe question how fair that is, how workable that is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an alternative, he suggested that the state install a pump in an old well on the hospital property and take the hospital off the BWS\u2019s system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That well can provide as much as 720,000 gallons of water a day and would not affect He\u2018eia Stream, he said, adding that the well could serve both the hospital and the adjacent Windward Community College, which uses only 13,000 gallons a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThose are both state properties. Both use Ha\u2018iku Tunnel water. … We believe the government should lead by example and require the state to put a pump in that existing well. That would help us accommodate the reduction to 0.3 mgd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He and Lau admitted that the idea to install a pump in the well was brand new and had not been run by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources or Department of Health, which would need to agree to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also noted that some BWS system operators are concerned that throttling down withdrawal from the tunnel to 0.3 mgd will create pressure changes that may lead to main breaks, especially in Maunawili.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With regard to the commission\u2019s order to install a deeper bulkhead in the Ha\u2018iku Tunnel, which according to the U.S. Geological Survey would restore the storage capacity of the high elevation aquifer, Lau said the BWS agrees that increasing dike storage will benefit the watershed, but explained that installing a bulkhead won\u2019t be easy or quick. Just getting workers into the narrow spaces in the tunnel may be difficult and, once construction is done, the board would have to work with the Health Department to ensure that the water is safe to drink before bringing that source back online, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that as part of a study of the He\u2018eia watershed, the USGS will begin seepage runs this summer to determine what sections of He\u2018eia stream are gaining and losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fred Reppun, education coordinator for the He\u2018eia National Estuarine Research Reserve (HNERR), had testified earlier in the meeting that he supported the commission going ahead and adopting a new interim instream flow standard of 1.77 mgd for He\u2018eia, rather than relying on bulkheading the tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhether it will increase flow in He\u2018eia Stream is an open question,\u201d he said, noting that summer water levels had dropped despite the BWS\u2019s reduction in withdrawals from tunnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRegulation of Ha\u2018iku Tunnel alone does not protect the stream,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HNERR director Kawika Winter added his concern that forcing a reduction in withdrawals from the tunnel might simply lead the BWS to increase the amount it takes from its wells in the area, which might then affect springs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strauch noted later in the meeting that understanding whether withdrawals from the BWS\u2019s Ha\u2018iku or Ioleka\u2018a wells will affect stream flow is being studied by USGS. He suggested caution should be taken with withdrawal from wells, adding that the goal of the commission\u2019s proposals \u201cwas not to take one source off so they can take advantage of another source. The goal was to restore stream flow and restore the functionality of the aquifer [and] capacity of the mountain to sustain streams and springs that would feed not only He\u2018eia, but also neighboring ahupua\u2018a.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lau, who had recently toured the fishpond and taro fields with the non- profit groups, said that in addition to what the commission was requiring, the BWS wanted to partner with Kako\u2018o \u2018Oiwi to see how the two organizations can work together to increase conveyance efficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water Commissioner Neil Hannahs said he understood the BWS needed time \u2014 to better understand the watershed, determine whether it was feasible to bulkhead the tunnel, and then construct it. But he urged the BWS to move with alacrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that both the Water Commission and the BWS are currently aligned in their holistic approaches to water management. But, he added, \u201cour sense of alignment and philosophy, sometimes these things come and go. …We are aligned right now. We need to get as much done as we can do right now because of our alignment. … Climate change and other urgencies also compel us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, commission staff committed to reporting back in September on BWS\u2019s tunnel withdrawal reduction\u00a0and its impact on flow, if any; on the\u00a0agency\u2019s progress toward assessing bulkhead feasibility and the engineering report; and on the potential development of alternative water sources, including the state hospital well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (For more background on this, see our March 2021 cover story, \u201cCommission Pressures BWS To Meet Proposed He\u2018eia Stream Flow Standards<\/a>.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The state Commission on Water Resource Management last month ordered the Honolulu Board of Water Supply to complete a feasibility study and preliminary engineering design within two years for a new bulkhead in its Ha‘iku Tunnel in Windward O‘ahu. As … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[485,28],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-13703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-july-2021","category-water","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Image-7-2-21-at-5.54-PM.jpeg\")
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