Maui’s reefs dwindling
WAILUKU – The County Council heard an alarming presentation about the decline of Maui’s reefs Monday. It was so alarming that Council Member Danny Mateo demanded that a state official close down injection wells used to dispose of treated wastewater near the shoreline.
Wells that are, for the most part, owned by the county.
Council Member Michelle Anderson, chairwoman of the Water Resources Committee, said: "We don’t need to wait for the state – for Big Daddy – to solve it for us."
However, some of the fixes could be very expensive.
The committee heard briefings on two reports that were published earlier this year, on rampant algae growth around Maui and on evidence suggesting links between algae and injection wells. The presentation showed how the two studies reinforce each other.
The committee also got a briefing on what the Department of Environmental Management already is doing to reduce the need for pumping treated sewage effluent into injection wells.
Steve Parabicoli, the coordinator for the county’s Water Reuse Program, told the council that more could be done but probably not from resources available within the department’s budget. "We need outside help," he said.
As an example of what could be done, the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility has "R1" treated effluent available, and there is a county ordinance requiring businesses to use it – if the county brings a transmission line within 100 feet of their property. And therein lies the rub: getting treated sewage water close enough for private use.
Parabicoli estimated the cost of a "good core" for a West Maui reclaimed water system at around $40 million. Somewhat less coverage might be had for $25 million to $30 million.
You could hear committee members suck in their breaths in the Council Chambers.
On the other hand, an estimate of total economic losses – due to damaged reefs, loss of fish and the seaweed smell that drives down the rental prices of beach properties – is as much as $20 million a year.
The Water Resources Committee reacted more to the threat to reefs than to the opportunity to reclaim water.
Mateo asked Dan Polhemus, administrator of the Division of Aquatic Resources: "Why doesn’t (the state Board of Land and Natural Resources) take a firm stand and tell the counties, like ours, you cannot have these wells near the ocean?"
Polhemus said it is only in the last year or so that studies have linked injection wells to algae on reefs, and even now the proof is not complete.
"We want to make sure we are drawing the right conclusions from the right data," he said. "We don’t want to be premature."
Also, "we don’t do water quality," he said.
Regulation of that is in the hands of the state Department of Health.
If farm runoff also were implicated, then the state Department of Agriculture also might have a role.
"It might take something multidepartmental," he said.
Mateo had heard enough. The coral coverage studies now go back about 12 years. "I cannot wait another 12 years," he said. "BLNR had better shift gears and start protecting our valuable resources."
He advised Polhemus to "take the risk. Being nice about it is not cutting it." Mateo raised his voice: "BLNR, do your job."
That was when Anderson observed that the county could restrain itself from using injection wells if it wanted to.
