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\u201cThese data are certainly surprising to see. Were you surprised?\u201d asked commissioner Paul Meyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strauch said that while he thought there were \u201ca lot of underlying stories to tell with the data,\u201d the take-home message was that full restoration hasn\u2019t had the impact anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meyer questioned whether variables such as invasive species might be affecting native species abundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strauch said that was something he\u2019d like to analyze. \u201cI think that we can try and tease apart a little bit. \u2026 \u02bbO\u02bbopu and \u02bbopae can migrate more effectively than invasives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that a bigger question that he was unsure if anybody could answer is whether there are other factors, such as fishing in the marine environment or traditional and customary gathering, that are leading to lower abundances. \u201cMaybe they\u2019re being fished out,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staff\u2019s recommendations for new IIFS were based on specific conditions of each stream. For Honomanu, Strauch said that in the last few years, even when no water is being diverted, the stream is completely drying up for periods of time. It would be impossible and unrealistic to implement an IIFS, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy recommendation is to make my life easier\u201d and seek the abandonment of three of the four diversions on the stream. \u201cBy forcing abandonment of three of four intakes, we\u2019re going to get as much water downstream as possible and to not have to enforce an IIFS that is not enforceable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also proposed reducing the IIFS on Waikamoi, since the stream does not support high quality habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For West Wailuaiki and Waiohue, which had not seen any appreciable change in biota abundance, he recommending amending the IIFS from full restoration to H90 flows, which are the flows in the stream 90 percent of the time. For West Wailuaiki, that would be 2.62 million gallons a day; for Waiohue, it would be 3.33 mgd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Nua\u02bbailua, he recommended that an intake on Spreckels Ditch be abandoned because the stream supports some of the highest quality, low-elevation habitat and estuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strauch said he planned to bring his recommendations for East Maui IIFS and the DHHL reservations to the commission this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that commission staff met this past summer with Na Moku Aupuni o Ko\u02bbolau Hui, which includes native Hawaiian taro farmers and cultural practitioners from East Maui, to discuss the impending IIFS recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey understood the reasoning for the modifications to the IIFS,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staff also met with Mahi Pono, East Maui Irrigation Company (the diverters), and the Sierra Club, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe goal is to make sure everybody is on the same page,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Hopefully we can put to rest, at least for a couple years, all the East Maui water issues,\u201d commissioner Mike Buck said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In September, Water Commission hydrologist Ayron Strauch presented a draft proposal to amend the interim instream flow standards of 11 streams in East Maui that were not part of a 2018 contested case hearing decision and order amending about two … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[503,28],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-14714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-november-2022","category-water","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14714","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=14714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}