A special meeting of Board of Water Supply (BWS) was held this week, at which Ha‘ikū and Pā‘ia residents complained that they haven’t been consulted on the Maui Island Water Use and Development Plan (WUDP) that includes a “strategy” to drill deep wells in the Ha‘ikū aquifer. The wells would send millions of gallons of water a day to Central and South Maui for those areas’ burgeoning future water needs. Residents want the Maui County Council to defer a vote on adopting the plan so that an online meeting focused on the Ha‘ikū and Pā‘ia communities can be held. A petition has been circulating in the community over the last two weeks to express their desire to be heard. The Council has until December to approve the plan.

“Most people where I live in the Koʻolau region are not aware that the WUDP appears to offer a major strategy of reducing pumping of the ‘Īao Aquifer from 16 mgd (million gallons a day) to 9 mgd, and spending nearly $100 million to drill a bunch of wells in Ha‘ikū because there is hope that there are 24 mgd of water available there,” Maui water expert Lucienne de Naie said in testimony provided on behalf of Maui Tomorrow.

The Ha‘ikū well strategy is being put forward even though no geologic, environmental, or stream use studies have been done on the Ha‘ikū aquifer, according to Jeffrey Parker, Director of the Coalition to Protect East Maui Water Resources.

“The WUDP clearly anticipates the removal of Ha‘ikū water and sending it to Central and South Maui to ‘meet planned growth,’” Parker said in written testimony. “Yet the residents of Ha‘ikū have never been consulted. No public meetings have been held with Ha‘ikū residents.”

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