It’s been more than a year since all of West Maui’s water users had to reapply to keep using water under a new state process that aims to better manage overtaxed streams and aquifers.

So far, none of the 115 applications filed under that Lahaina Aquifer Sector Water Management Area have come before the state’s powerful water commission. State officials now say they expect to bring the first group of water-use permits before the Commission on Water Resource Management for approval either late this year or in early 2025.

That timeline, following the wildfire- and staffing-related delays that already affected the review, has some Maui community members growing anxious. That includes affordable housing advocates worried about a continued exodus from the island by working-class families.

“I don’t think that the community anticipated how long it would take to receive and review and consider issuing permits,” Maui community advocate Kai Nishiki said. 

The slow pace, she and others say, is delaying hundreds of urgently needed affordable housing units in the area, especially after the deadly wildfires that destroyed most of Lahaina last year.

“How long can someone who works at a hotel in Kaanapali and used to have a 15-minute commute … live on the other side of the island and deal with the incredible challenges that going over the Pali (highway) presents?” Nishiki added, referring to the winding commute into West Maui. 

“It’s just not going to work long-term.”

Neither the Department of Land and Natural Resources director, Dawn Chang, nor her acting deputy who heads the water commission’s staff, Dean Uyeno, would agree to discuss the status of the state applications.

However, in a statement DLNR said that the water commission’s staff has prioritized the water-user applications submitted for an area north of Lahaina known as the Honokowai aquifer system.

Honokowai faces the heaviest strain and demand among all the aquifers in West Maui, according to CWRM staff. It has already far exceeded its capacity, with total approved uses that amount to 151% of the water it’s capable of providing at sustainable levels, according to briefings before the commission. 

Staff has also asked some applicants to provide more details, and they’ve conducted site visits in the Honokohau Valley, north of Honokowai, in order to verify how applicants are using the water there, according to the DLNR statement.  

Last year, Uyeno told the commission that limited staffing would slow the review process. In its recent statement, DLNR said “there are several steps that we are working through before we are able to recruit and fill vacancies” for positions that have already been provided by the state. 

It didn’t specify what those steps were.

Approaching The Brink

West Maui has seen its rainfall decline in recent decades, largely due to climate change, and that’s led to a decline in water available from streams and groundwater, according to Ayron Strauch, a hydrologist who heads CWRM’s Stream Protection and Management Branch.

Nearly 80% of those West Maui water resources are controlled by private companies, some of whom supply water to the area’s hotels, golf courses and large estates that use irrigation for landscaping. 

The remaining 20% or so of the water is controlled by the county’s Department of Water Supply, according to CWRM officials.

The state water commission created its special West Maui management area after it saw many of the streams and aquifers nearing their full capacity or, in the case of Honokowai, far exceeding it. 

Under the new designated area, commissioners could better prioritize the water for domestic uses, such as housing projects, along with other so-called “public trust” uses protected under the state constitution. 

It was formed amidst intensifying battles among local interests such as kalo farmers and developers over who gets top priority and control of those declining streams and groundwater.

The designated West Maui area launched in August 2022. Applications for new and existing water users to gain permits within its boundaries were due on Aug. 7, 2023 — the day before most of Lahaina was destroyed in an urban wildfire that left at least 102 people dead.

A month after the disaster, Uyeno told commissioners that the CWRM staff had slowed their review because of the fire and their own staffing shortages. Asked how long that process might take, Uyeno simply told commissioners “It’ll be awhile.”

Of the 115 applications received by the 2023 deadline, 93 were from existing users and 22 were for new potential users, according to CWRM staff.

Nishiki and Maui council member Tamara Paltin, who represents West Maui, pointed to the upheaval surrounding the departure of Uyeno’s predecessor, former deputy director Kaleo Manuel, as another factor in the delay. 

Manuel played a key role in establishing the special designation for West Maui’s limited water sources. He resigned in January in a swirl of controversy over a request to divert stream waters the day of the Aug. 8 wildfires in Lahaina.

Many Native Hawaiians and advocates for more public water access protested state leaders’ investigation into Manuel and how they had handled the situation before he eventually resigned.

Meanwhile, Paltin and others in the Maui community support changes to state law that would give CWRM more independence from DLNR and the governor, as well as more powers to its director. Such moves, Paltin said, could enable the commission to review and process water-use applications much faster.

Striking A Balance

The state’s management area also aims to help the state prioritize traditional Hawaiian customary practices, such as kalo farming. 

“You see how important that designation is, to be able to provide water,” said Kekai Keahi, a West Maui kalo farmer. “We’re not anti-development but we’re pro ‘the right way’ to develop so we’re not destroying our water resources and leaving our kids with nothing.”

Keahi added that there’s been a renewed push after last year’s catastrophic wildfires to use reclaimed water for irrigation and farming to help ease the strain on the area’s streams and groundwater. 

“We’ve been screaming this out loud for almost 15 years. It’s too bad that something like this has to happen before someone takes us seriously,” Keahi said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Green has tapped state Deputy Attorney General and Lahaina native Ciara Kahahane to serve as Manuel’s permanent replacement starting next month, subject to the commission’s approval.

County, state and federal officials have all recently focused on creating temporary dwellings to help address Maui’s housing crisis after the Aug. 8 wildfires. However, Nishiki said there needs to be more focus on permanent housing to keep families on the island for good.

“It’s very good to manage our resources appropriately,” Nishiki said Thursday of the state’s efforts to give priority to domestic water uses in water-strapped West Maui.

“It’s just unfortunate that a fire happened right after designation because the need for housing and for things to be approved quickly is necessary,” she said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

Civil Beat’s coverage of environmental issues on Maui is supported by grants from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Hawaii Wildfires Recovery Fund, the Knight Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation.