U.S. Water News Online
HANA, Hawaii -- On the paradise island of Maui, where some of the world's heaviest rains pelt lush peaks, scientists say big users squander water so badly that main wells may soon be contaminated by salt.
``They'll be lucky if they have another five years at this rate,'' said William Meyer, who recently retired as the U.S. Geological Survey's regional director. ``This is a train-wreck scenario.''
Maui, water experts say, is an alarming example of what happens in an isolated microcosm -- an island, in this case -- as conflicting interests must fight over runoff from rains and dwindling underground reserves.
Although by itself only a dot in the Pacific, Maui is viewed as a revealing laboratory not only for the rest of Hawaii but also the wider world beyond.
``Places like this have no Colorado River to fight over,'' Meyer said. ``When they realize they're out of water, it is all of a sudden, and it is too late.''
Already, native Hawaiians who plant their staple taro see streams go dry at a quickening rate because agriculture barons and land developers use their historical rights to divert water. That may be only the beginning.
On volcanic islands, rain that does not run out to sea settles in porous groundwater aquifers, forming what geologists call a lens of fresh water above encroaching salt water.
But, hydrologists say, for each foot of fresh water taken from these subsurface aquifers, heavier salt water pushes up 40 feet. As a result, uncontrolled pumping can mean calamity in a hurry.
Hastened by four years of drought, levels have plummeted in Maui's Lao aquifer, from 18 feet above sea level in 1990 to 10 feet in 2001. That left only 400 feet in the freshwater lens.
Planners say Maui's population of 150,000 could reach 1 million by 2050 as tourism expands, making hard choices inevitable. A hotel complex or golf course needs a million gallons a day, enough for 10,000 people.
Even now, few people talk about the crisis.
``This is our dirty little secret,'' said Lucienne de Naie, a Maui conservationist who tracks supply and demand. ``Everyone needs water so everyone is afraid to criticize the people who control it.''
She said Maui leaders lacked even the political will to determine how much water they had. ``With a precious resource, when you are in doubt about something, you don't do it,'' she said.
Experts warn of other impending crises on the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Molokai, where they say aquifers also are emptying faster than rain can recharge them.
The bulk of Maui's water is collected or pumped by Alexander & Baldwin Inc., a company founded in 1870 by two sons of missionaries. Its elaborate ditch system carries water from wet areas to dry ones.
The company takes 60 billion gallons a year from streams that cross public land, drought or not, paying the state of Hawaii only $160,000 annually, officials say.
Elsewhere, U.S. Geological Survey agents add, A&B pumps underground water from its private wells -- millions of gallons daily -- that are not reported to anyone.
Much of the water is used to grow sugar cane, which requires a ton of water for every pound of sugar produced and relies heavily on federal price supports.
``Sugar is only a place marker for future development,'' said Jonathan Starr, an outspoken member of Maui County's water board, who believes the company refuses to share its water rights for fear of losing them.
``Whoever controls the water has a lock on the economy,'' he said. ``Alexander & Baldwin's vision is that sugar cane will eventually turn into houses.''
While at least 700 people have waited 10 years for water meter permits so they can build on their land, A&B has developed luxury property with water it controls, he said.
Starr sold a successful sign business in New York to settle in Maui, building a solar-powered house with a rainwater catchment system. He often attends water managers' meetings on the mainland.
He was able to block one large real estate development by exposing secret plans between land companies and local officials to tap scarce water, but he fears uphill fights in the future.
Starr and a chorus of others angrily protested recently when Gov. Benjamin Cayetano named an A&B vice president, Meredith Ching, to the State Water Commission.
Some legal experts called this a blatant conflict made worse by the fact that two of the other three appointed commissioners also represent big agriculture and the third is a labor leader.
Ching, who supervises community relations at A&B, refused any comment on her appointment. She also declined to answer questions about company water use.
Linda Howe, media relations director, also told The Associated Press she could not comment.
``This is more of a perceived conflict than an actual one,'' said Avery Chumbley, a state senator from Maui who also heads a land company that sells water. ``I believe in my heart and mind she (Ching) is a person of integrity.''
Alan Murakami, attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., argues that Ching is bound by law to support A&B's best interests or risks lawsuits from stockholders.
Even if she recuses herself on Maui decisions, any water commission action sets a precedent for the rest of the state, he said.
Murakami said Meyer had volunteered to serve on the water commission but his nomination was blocked by large commercial interests.
In her first commission meeting, Ching challenged what conservationists praised as a landmark decision to restore diverted agricultural water to two spectacular falls on the island of Hawaii.
William Tam, a Honolulu lawyer who wrote the state water code as deputy attorney general assigned to the commission, calls the appointment an ``irreconcilable conflict'' that puts authorities in ``very difficult circumstances.''
Tam was dismissed from state service in 1997. No official reason was given, but at the time the attorney general criticized him when a judge granted him a delay in a minor trial because of a personal emergency.
Privately, state legislators say he was fired after he spoke out at community meetings for native and individual water rights.
Hawaii has some of America's most stringent public-trust water laws, but they are badly understood and essentially ignored, Tam said. He blames this partly on official mismanagement and conflicts of interest.
Unlike in the western United States, where water rights were claimed mostly on a first-come, first-served basis, Hawaii follows the New England practice of sharing available water among all users.
In the landmark Waiahole decision in August 2000, the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld the water commission's power to protect streams, domestic use and traditional rights. But even that has not been sufficient, Tam said.
``Think of 19th century colonialism,'' he said, explaining that many relics of old ways now define modern practices.
Tam fears court tie-ups as more users battle old entrenched companies and other large interests over water supply. He expects disputes to grow fierce when dwindling freshwater is all committed, forcing reallocation.
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