Author: Mike Moran

KCA VP Rob Weltman    12/6/18  Maui News Front Page Today http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2018/12/end-of-sugar-farming-may-impact-aquifer-water-yields/ End of sugar farming may impact aquifer water yields KIHEI — As planners chart out Maui island’s water use over the next 20 years, uncertainty hovers over the region with the largest population but the least groundwater resources. Spanning 229 square miles of Kahului, Paia, South Maui and Upcountry, the Central Maui aquifer sector covers more than 100,000 residents but produces 26 million gallons per day, the lowest of the six aquifer regions. And, two years after the closure of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., it’s still unclear how a decrease in irrigation will impact the central aquifers, said Alex de Roode, planner with the Water Resources and Planning Division. “The demand that’s in the central aquifer sector area can’t be met by the natural resources in it,” de Roode said. “So it is reliant on resources from Wailuku and Koolau. With that irrigation now not coming in, we have to see what happens over time. It’s so new still.” De Roode spoke Tuesday night at a hearing on the Maui Island Water Use and Development Plan, which is being updated. The plan looks at future water needs over the next 20 years and discusses how Maui can meet those demands. Of the six aquifer sectors on Maui, the central area is the largest. In 2015, it had a...