{"id":223,"date":"2014-02-01T20:36:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T20:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/EH\/?p=223"},"modified":"2015-01-29T19:44:30","modified_gmt":"2015-01-29T19:44:30","slug":"national-park-service-seeks-state-control-over-aquifer-system-at-kaloko-honokohau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=223","title":{"rendered":"National Park Service Seeks State Control Over Aquifer System at Kaloko-Honokohau"},"content":{"rendered":"
A petition by the National Park Service (NPS) seeking state control over withdrawals from the Keauhou aquifer system could slow the pace of development in North Kona, at the same time Hawai`i County is trying to encourage growth there.<\/div>\n
\nThe NPS has long worried that increased pumping of the aquifer will diminish the flow of cool, fresh sub-surface water to the ancient Hawaiian fishponds and anchialine pools along the coast of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park. And after years of submitting testimonies on development plans, making presentations to commissions and boards, and participating in roundtable discussions with little effect, the NPS, on September 13, formally asked the Commission on Water Resource Management to designate the Keauhou aquifer system, which stretches from Ka`upulehu south to Keauhou, as a ground water management area (WMA)<\/p>\n

The Keauhou aquifer already supports most of West Hawai`i\u2019s wells and underlies lands targeted for urbanization by the Kona Community Development Plan.<\/p>\n

With its petition, the NPS is forcing the Water Commission \u2013 for the first time \u2013 to assess the groundwater needs of public trust resources that are also necessary for traditional and customary practices.<\/p>\n

Should the Water Commission find that designation is warranted, all current and future users of the aquifer system will need to acquire a water use permit from the commission. That includes not only the dozen or so operators of the 51 existing wells, but also new developments, such as the 1,143-acre master planned community known as Kaloko Makai, which proposes thousands of new homes, a school, a hospital, hundreds of resort units and commercial and industrial space upslope of the park.<\/p>\n

A decision on the petition is likely months away. As of mid-September, Water Commission director William Tam had not read it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve talked to us for the last couple of years. I didn\u2019t realize they were going to do this,\u201d Tam said.<\/p>\n

Hawai`i County Department of Water Supply manager Quirino Antonio did not respond to questions by press time.<\/p>\n

When asked how designation might affect development in the area, Peter Young, a consultant for Kaloko Makai, said simply, \u201cWe\u2019re looking into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Time Coming<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been, in fact, several years that the NPS has been talking to the commission, and to anyone else who would listen, about its concerns that increasing groundwater withdrawals will eventually harm the culturally and ecologically important native species that rely that flow to survive and thrive. Those species include `ama`ama (striped mullet), limu manauea (Gracilaria coronopifolia<\/i>), limu kohu (Asparagopsis taxiformis<\/i>), the orange-black damselfly (Megalagrion xanthomelas<\/i>), `opae `ula (Halocaridina rubra<\/i>), the ae`o (endangered Hawaiian stilt,\u00a0Himantopus himantopus<\/i>) and the `alae ke`oke`o (endangered Hawaiian coot,\u00a0Fulica alai<\/i>).<\/p>\n

In 1999, the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s Delwyn Oki determined that 6.48 million gallons a day of fresh water discharged into the ocean from the park before the onslaught of development in the area. But if all of the 30 or so wells permitted before 1998 were pumped at their maximum rate, Oki found that groundwater flow from the park would drop to 47 percent of what it had been in 1978.<\/p>\n

Since Oki\u2019s report, the Water Commission has approved permits for about 20 more wells for the Keauhou aquifer. Currently, the total permitted pumping capacity is 38 mgd, which is equivalent to the aquifer\u2019s sustainable yield.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the county has approved land use plans and zoning that may one day leave the park boxed in by development requiring six times the sustainable yield of the Keauhou aquifer system, according to the county\u2019s Water Use and Development Plan.<\/p>\n

Current reported water use is only about 13 mgd, 34 percent of the sustainable yield. However, the petition notes, \u201cActual water use is not known because pumpage is not being reported for over two-thirds of the permitted production wells in the aquifer system.\u201d<\/p>\n

As early as 2008, the NPS convened stakeholder meetings to investigate ways to conserve water and protect the park\u2019s resources. But with the county\u2019s competing group, the Kona Water Roundtable, sometimes holding meetings on the same day, the park service eventually stopped its efforts. In December 2012, the roundtable finally included a presentation by the NPS on its agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite six years of efforts by the Water Commission, the Park, and other stakeholders to address the potential impacts of proposed development at the Kona Water Roundtable and other venues, no plan has been produced to protect water-dependent cultural and natural resources from the cumulative effects of groundwater withdrawals,\u201d states an NPS press release announcing the petition.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sustainable\u2019 Yield<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Some people just aren\u2019t convinced that the park\u2019s resources are in danger of losing their freshwater supply.<\/p>\n

At a September 19, 2012, Water Commission meeting where the NPS presented evidence that groundwater pumping was already causing increased salinity in parts of the park, Peter Young, who was also former Water Commission chair, testified that recent studies suggest there is far more fresh water available from the Keauhou aquifer than previously thought.<\/p>\n

Young referred to a 2011 USGS study by John Engott that recalculated the likely recharge to aquifers across the island. For Keauhou, Engott found, the recharge rate was about 77 percent higher than the rate used in 2008 by the Water Commission to calculate the sustainable yield of 38 mgd. Even under various climate change scenarios, Engott found the recharge rate to be significantly higher than 87 mgd, the rate used by the Water Commission.<\/p>\n

Young has also pointed out that recent well drilling by hydrologist Tom Nance discovered a cache of freshwater beneath saltwater in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cA sustainable yield of 38 mgd is most likely low,\u201d Young told the commission.<\/p>\n

The NPS petition, however, argues that \u201c[t]he feasibility of developing one or more artesian freshwater zones below salt water for drinking water … is highly speculative, as is the assertion that wells tapping this zone will not reduce groundwater discharge to coastal ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also points out that the method used to calculate the sustainable yield \u2013 the Robust Analytical Model \u2013 assumes that pumping is uniformly distributed. It is not, the petition states, adding that the Water Commission itself has recommended that because of the lack of site-specific data, the sustainable yields \u201cshould be used as a guide in planning rather than an inflexible constraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition continues that the RAM also assumed that all groundwater pumping comes from basal aquifers when, in fact, the Keauhou aquifer includes higher elevation groundwater. The relationship between the two areas, however, is still being investigated. In March of 2012, the Water Commission and the NPS funded a USGS study that proposed to track isotopes in rainfall to follow how water moves from the high-level groundwater system to the basal aquifer. The USGS has completed its data collection, but had not released any results as of press time.<\/p>\n

In any case, the sustainable yield may protect the water quality of an inland well, but \u201cit does not prevent saltwater intrusion at the coastline,\u201d the petition states, noting also that the Water Commission only has two monitoring wells in the area and they are more than seven miles away from the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RAM methodology … does not explicitly consider the impacts of reducing groundwater discharge by 44 percent on traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights and practices and other public trust resources along the Kona Coast,\u201d the petition states, adding that the Water Commission recognized this in its 2008 Water Resources Protection Plan.<\/p>\n

Climate Change<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Water Commission is currently updating its Water Resources Protection Plan, which will likely include revised sustainable yields. These will incorporate new precipitation models from the USGS that, for the first time, include recharge from fog drip.<\/p>\n

As Engott\u2019s study found, in most cases, the recharge for the Keauhou region is likely vastly higher when fog drip contribution is considered. However, in drought conditions, Engott found, the sustainable yield in Keauhou is a mere 28 mgd.<\/p>\n

With the drier conditions and rise in sea level expected as a result of climate change, the University of Hawai`i\u2019s Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy (ICAP) has suggested that the Water Commission start now to identify and designate the state\u2019s most vulnerable areas.<\/p>\n

In ICAP\u2019s 2012, \u201cWater Resources and Climate Change Adaptation in Hawai`i: Adaptive Tools in the Current Law and Policy Framework,\u201d authors Richard Wallsgrove and David Penn argued that WMAs provide for more adaptive management by the Water Commission compared to non-designated areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to the powers of the [Water Commission\u2019s] permitting process, designation can also promote adaptation [to climate change] through improved monitoring and inventorying of water resources,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

They also argued that a statewide permit system was always the intended goal when the Water Code was adopted decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cA review commission was established and tasked with reporting to the Legislature on various matters, including the adoption of a statewide permit system. The commission recommended such a system in 1994, but it has not been adopted. Presently, only Moloka\u2018i, most of O\u2018ahu, and the \u2018Iao aquifer on Maui have been designated as ground WMAs. In 2008, Na Wai \u2018Eha, Maui was designated as the first surface WMA since the Code\u2019s inception,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

The criteria for designating groundwater WMAs include whether:<\/p>\n