Learning / In Hawai’i, like every other place on the planet, water is crucial to agriculture, economic development, healthy ecosystems and the perpetuation of life itself. Yet the state Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) doesn’t know exactly how much water we’ve got, how much we’re using or whether we’ll have enough to meet future demands. This information gap has become clear from the projects and goals outlined in the agency’s proposed revisions to the Hawai’i Water Resource Protection Plan, which were the subject of statewide public hearings late last year. Through the current update of the plan, the CWRM is attempting to get a handle on these key questions.

The process could take more than a decade to complete, depending upon funding. Meanwhile, all four Hawai’i counties are concurrently updating their water use development plans, intended to help local governments broadly allocate water to land use and give the state plan more current data. “I’m not sure how long it will take for all this to happen, but from a sustainability perspective, I think it will be soon enough to avoid water shortages and problems with water pollution,” said Matt Rosener, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and consultant to the Hanalei Watershed Hui.

According to data published on the CWRM website, all islands save for Ni’ihau, which wasn’t included in the survey, were using a combined total of 981.44 million gallons per day (mgd) in 1995, with ground and surface water sources meeting roughly equal amounts of that demand. Most of the water–some 662 mgd–was going toward agriculture, primarily on Maui and Kaua’i. Approximately 134 mgd were being used for domestic and 92 mgd for commercial purposes, with O’ahu accounting for most of the consumption in those two sectors.

But things have changed a lot since 1995, with sugar plantations closing, the state’s population growing and a number of well permits issued in recent years to private parties for commercial, residential and agricultural uses. As a result, the commission is moving to make the state water plan more current through initiatives that call for updating estimates of sustainable yield from groundwater sources–primarily aquifers–that provide most of the state’s drinking water.

These updating efforts, however, are complicated by indications that some groundwater sources are not recharging as quickly as they used to. Rosener says that the apparent cause seems to be climate change coupled with the abandoning of old water transmission systems from the plantation days.

For more than a century, water was transported from watersheds to dry areas to irrigate sugarcane, and when that practice stopped, the groundwater in arid regions dropped because it wasn’t being artificially supplemented, Rosener explained. Additionally, records show “long term decreases in rainfall and the base flow in streams. It could be that the resource is shrinking,” he added.

As part of the water plan update, the commission is also seeking to do a better job of monitoring wells, springs and surface water sources, while more aggressively seeking data on groundwater use from the growing number of private well owners. “Right now, it’s too easy,” said Jerry Ornellas, vice president of the Kaua’i Farm Bureau and president of the East Kaua’i Water Users Cooperative. “Anybody can go in and get a permit from DLNR [Department of Land and Natural Resources] to drill a well.”

The commission has launched a stream assessment program with the goal of ultimately setting scientifically based, in-stream flow standards. Such standards, mandated for years under the state water code but never developed, would ensure that island streams have sufficient water to support native species, watershed health and Hawaiian cultural practices. Long-term goals for CWRM call for protecting and restoring watersheds, whose degradation began when grazing animals were introduced to the islands some 200 years ago and continues with the proliferation of invasive alien plants, which crowd out the water-retaining native foliage.

Although CWRM has a big agenda, Rosener said many of those who work with the agency “are very sharp and definitely know what they’re doing. But they’re also very underfunded, and don’t have the resources and people power to get to where they need to be. It’s unfortunate the state is so reactive and not more proactive in funding its agencies.”

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