{"id":8325,"date":"2015-08-31T20:45:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T20:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=8325"},"modified":"2018-06-15T01:37:40","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T01:37:40","slug":"water-commission-rebuffs-nps-effort-to-shrink-proposed-designation-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=8325","title":{"rendered":"Water Commission Rebuffs NPS Effort\u00a0To Shrink Proposed Designation Area"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kaloko-Honokohau<\/a>
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago, the National Park Service petitioned the state Commission on Water Resource Management to designate the Keauhou aquifer, in West Hawai`i, as a water management area. The Park Service\u2019s intention was to ensure that the subsurface groundwater flows to the anchialine pools and fish ponds in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park would not be impaired by nearby development.<\/p>\n

The petition has been strenuously opposed by many in the community and by the administration of Big Island mayor Billy Kenoi.<\/p>\n

Partly in response to that, last March, the Park Service asked the Water Commission to consider designating an area smaller than the entire Keauhou aquifer system. In its petition, the Park Service took note of the fact that the Hawai`i Water Code never defines what constitutes an \u201carea\u201d that is subject to designation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it can be reasonably determined \u2026 that the water resources in an area may be threatened by existing or proposed withdrawals or diversions of water, the commission shall designate the area for the purpose of establishing administrative control over the withdrawals and diversions of ground and surface waters in the area to ensure reasonable beneficial use of the water resources in the public interest,\u201d the code states.<\/p>\n

In its March petition, the Park Service observes, \u201cDespite using the term \u2018area\u2019 three times in this section\u201d \u2013 Section 174C-3 \u2013 \u201cthe water code does not contain any independent definition of the term.\u201d Also, its petition notes, Water Commission rules do not spell out what an \u201carea\u201d is.<\/p>\n

Commission staff looked at potential boundaries for defining an \u201carea\u201d for designation smaller than the entire aquifer, said Roy Hardy, acting director for the Water Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Water Code is flexible,\u201d he said. So the staff looked at whether designating an area defined by the basal aquifer, ahupua`a boundaries, or a combination of them might meet the needs of the Park Service.<\/p>\n

Designating only the basal lens \u201cdoesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d he said. Ahupua`a boundaries make a little more seince, since they combine high level and basal sources \u2013 \u201cbut not perfectly,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAhupua`a boundaries don\u2019t relate that well to basal water,\u201d he continued. \u201cEven though they do go mauka-makai, they\u2019re very thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardy presented a map of a combined basal\/ahupua`a area, but noted that even with this, the northern half of the park would fall outside the proposed management area.<\/p>\n

Whatever the commission decides, he added, \u201cit needs to make hydrologic sense.\u201d And \u201cchopping up\u201d the aquifer doesn\u2019t, he said. \u201cSurface water disperses, and groundwater isn\u2019t confined to the ahupua`a strips.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale we have now,\u201d he said, referring to the entire Keauhou aquifer, \u201cis the appropriate scale.<\/p>\n

On top of everything else, he said, there\u2019s another issue: \u201ccarving up hydrologic units into smaller areas sets a precedent for more localized, individual disputes, which staff doesn\u2019t feel is the intent of the Water Code.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Fahmy, an attorney and policy analyst with the National Park Service, explained that the petition was filed \u201cto get a sense of the authorities and flexibility that the commission has with respect to management of Hawai`i\u2019s water resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that this is finding out whether we could shrink the footprint of management,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Section 174C-1, he continued, \u201csays that the designation of an area \u2013 what we were focusing on in our petition \u2013 is for the purpose of establishing administrative control over withdrawals and diversions \u2026 in the public interest\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we see it, the pre-eminent consideration in defining a water management area is what is necessary to deal with the issue? Mr. Hardy referred to this as just looking at a local situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that is oftentimes the case. You\u2019re looking at a local situation when dealing with public trust resources. They may be site specific \u2013 for example, a fish pond on Moloka`i, anchialine pools, important cultural resources associated with springs \u2013 so, yeah, it is local\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s try to find a management solution that tries to deal with the issues. We don\u2019t need to assert management over larger areas when a smaller one will do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Milton Pavao, former chief engineer and manager for the Hawai`i County Department of Water Supply, questioned the Park Service on what benchmarks it had for determining the health of the resources it was attempting to protect.<\/p>\n

The ponds are relatively healthy, replied Paula Cutillo, a Park Service hydrologist, \u201cbut we\u2019re trying to preserve those conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin Kudo, an attorney representing the Board of Water Supply, said his client agreed with the staff\u2019s recommendation. But he went on to offer an alternative, based on Section 174C-10, which states: \u201cThe commission shall have the jurisdiction statewide to hear any dispute regarding water resource protection, water permits, or constitutionally protected water interests, or where there is insufficient water to meet competing needs for water, whether or not the area involved has been designated as a water management area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso,\u201d Kudo added, the commission\u2019s rules give it \u201cthe ability to negotiate, have a hearings officer, et cetera.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis matter involves a small group,\u201d he said. \u201cWe, the county, agree that the park should be protected\u2026 but we don\u2019t agree that we should use designation to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although some commissioners appeared ready to grab at Kudo\u2019s proposal, the matter at hand was the Park Service\u2019s petition.<\/p>\n

And on that score, there were no commissioners willing to split the aquifer into smaller parts for designation \u2013 at least in this case.<\/p>\n

Commission chair Suzanne Case pointed to the difficulty of \u201ccarving up the water management areas that we collect data on. Once you start to carve that up, you get into much more confusing pieces. The best approach is to keep it as is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Jonathan Starr also agreed with the staff\u2019s position. \u201cI don\u2019t see any hydrological basis for [management] on a specified area around the park, other than that that it is the park. Also, it creates a situation where we treat water management as spot zoning rather than \u2026 [using] hydrological units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamana Beamer, representing the Big Island on the commission, said he, too had \u201cconcerns about breaking up the bigger water management area\u2026 But this is just one stage in the understanding of these issues. It\u2019s not about who controls the pond. In future meetings I hope we talk about how we manage that resource better rather than who owns it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission approved staff\u2019s recommendation unanimously.<\/p>\n

—\u00a0Patricia Tummons<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, the National Park Service petitioned the state Commission on Water Resource Management to designate the Keauhou aquifer, in West Hawai`i, as a water management area. The Park Service’s intention was to ensure that the subsurface groundwater flows … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-8325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-september-2015","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325","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=8325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}