Upcountry could see higher water rates and restrictions

Maui County Department of Water Supply crew member Donald Correia tops off a water tank at a Kula distribution hub on Sept. 15 while equipment operator Rowdy Fernandez talks with Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen and Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke. Upcountry will be under a Stage 2 water shortage declaration starting today, with the county water director warning it could soon shift to Stage 3 as demand outpaces supply. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Higher water rates and heavier use restrictions are on the horizon for Upcountry customers as demand continues to outpace supply and drought conditions persist, the county’s water supply director said on Tuesday.

“The biggest fear is that if it doesn’t rain, and if demand continues at the current levels there will be times when we will won’t have water in the system at all in certain areas. That will mean they won’t have water for their homes and they won’t have water for fire protection,” Water Supply Director John Stufflebean said Tuesday morning of the Upcountry system. “But if everyone cooperates, and stops outdoor watering, we will be OK.”

Today a Stage 2 water shortage takes effect for the Upcountry water service area which covers Makawao, upper and lower Kula, Haiku, Pukalani, Kokomo, Kaupakalua, Ulumalu, Ulupalakua and Kanaio.

But already on Tuesday, Stufflebean said, “We will be going to Stage 3 in a matter of days.”

Stage 2 occurs when anticipated demand in an area is projected to exceed available water supply by 16 to 30 percent. In Stage 3, demand is projected to exceed available water supply by 31 percent or more.

Under the water shortage rates, larger residential water users — those who use more than 15,000 gallons per month — can be charged more under Stage 2 and Stage 3 declarations, according to the Water Supply Department’s website.

There are also water shortage rates for other customers who are not in single-family dwellings with a 5/8-inch meter — which is the typical residential customer — as well as for agricultural users.

Stufflebean said the higher rates target outdoor water use; one person typically uses 100 gallons per day indoors for things such as showering and washing dishes.

The county is currently seeing Upcountry customers using 270 gallons per day. Based on the typical indoor use per person, an estimated 170 of those gallons are likely related to outdoor use, Stufflebean said.

He added that in September, the Upcountry reservoirs were full, as they typically are during that month. But October was “really dry” with two of the three ditches they get water from drying up.

“Water use has been pretty high, probably because of the fire that people are watering more” to protect their places, he said.

During shortages, the county can also prohibit water usage during certain hours or days of the week, according to the County Code. Fines of up to $500 could be issued for violating the schedules, restrictions or measures established by the water director.

No fines have been issued yet, Stufflebean said.

The Water Department announced on Oct. 21 that a Stage 1 water shortage declaration would go into effect Oct. 26. Stage 1 is when anticipated water demand in an area is projected to exceed available water supply by 1 to 15 percent.

The declaration ordered Upcountry consumers to stop using water for irrigation, watering lawns, washing vehicles or other nonessential activities.

When asked if water usage went down after the announcements of the water shortage stages, Stufflebean said “it hasn’t decreased.”

“Looking at the data, the usage so far has not gone down. So far people are not responding and they need to,” he said.

Stufflebean explained that the Upcountry water system is very dependent on surface water from the old plantation ditches, and when it does not rain, there is no water in the ditches.

The county has reservoirs to store water, but it only has the capacity to get through one dry season, which just passed.

Normally by this time of the year, the wet season rains take the pressure off of their storage reservoirs, Stufflebean explained.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s winter forecast issued about three weeks ago, less rainfall is expected for the wet season of October through April. It added that Maui and Hawaii island have the worst drought conditions in the “extreme” category. Both islands also suffered large brush fires in August.

Although farmers and agricultural producers are not currently required to cut back their water use, they say they are trying to conserve and also are seeing the dry conditions impact their businesses.

“It’s on our mind, we try to be conscious of that,” Ryan Earehart, a partner in ‘Oko’a Farms, said Tuesday. “Cause that’s kind of the elixir of life, it’s kind of the most precious resource even though we are out in the middle of the ocean and there is water all around, but that fresh water is special stuff.”

The neighbors around their fields in Kula currently have brown landscapes.

‘Oko’a Farms also has cover crops on fields that are not currently being used, but those are also parched, he said.

Earehart said that he recently had to water his pasture where their goats graze, as it has been so dry. He added that the watering also helps with fire protection.

The drought is another hurdle for the farm, which also suffered around $60,000 in wind damages associated with the Aug. 8 fires. The damages included the loss of several dozen chickens, which were tossed into a fence by the fierce winds, as well as multiple crops, with the winds uprooting cassava and sending avocados and mangoes that were not yet ready to be harvested onto the ground.

“It doesn’t magically come back, you got to wait until next year,” Earehart said of the avocados and mangoes.

The organic farm sells its produce, sourdough bread and to-go items such as cassava and fresh fruits, along with tempeh and venison bentos, at its store at the Kulamalu Town Center in Pukalani.

In Haiku, Carol Brown of Maui Tropicals & Foliage is usually able to rely on the rainy weather for a variety of plants and flowers that include ginger, heliconia, ti leaves and monstera.

“We are on the edge of the rainforest,” Brown said Tuesday morning. “We’d normally do get evening showers or early morning showers.”

But this year that has not been the case, she said.

Their 23-acre farm includes a gulch that normally has water flowing through but is currently dry.

“We cannot water enough to produce more flowers,” she said.

Brown said farmers are also trying to conserve water through methods such as using more drip irrigation.

“We are doing all we can,” she said.

Brown said being asked to cut back on their water is like being asked to cut back on their livelihood.

“What do you do?” Brown said. “You feel like you are caught between a rock and a hard place. Farming is not easy.”

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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