Arakawa: County in talks to purchase watershed

Deal with Wailuku Water would not encompass all 13,200 acres company owns

Maui County has revived its plans to purchase Wailuku Water Co.'s assets, including its ditch system and watershed lands, Mayor Alan Arakawa said Thursday morning during his weekly talk show on KAOI radio.

"We've been trying to acquire their assets for quite some time," Arakawa said. "We're negotiating with Wailuku Water Company right now. I have a proposal on my desk."

Council Chairman Mike White and Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Riki Hokama also will take a look at the proposal "so we can come up with an agreement on what the pricing should be and whether we can agree to their terms or not," Arakawa explained.

Currently, the county pays Wailuku Water Co. for the use of water in its Wailuku treatment plant. Arakawa said the county is calculating how much would be saved in the long-term if the county could purchase the property and have control of the company's system.

"It's a systemic, systematic approach to making sure that everything we're doing makes sense in the legal form, economic form, and that at the end of the day, the community has a benefit from it," the mayor said.

Plans to acquire Wailuku Water's assets date back a decade. In 2006, Arakawa signed a county budget that included $7 million to buy watershed lands and transmission systems from the company, according to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article. At the time, environmental and cultural advocates applauded the efforts to lessen sugar companies' control of local water resources.

"It was the mayor's initiative to rekindle the discussions," said Avery Chumbley, president of Wailuku Water Co. "Obviously it made some sense from a public ownership standpoint for asset of the land itself, plus the opportunities that it would create."

Chumbley said that he didn't recall exactly why the purchase did not happen a decade ago. At the time, he had said $7 million was too low a figure, according to the Star-Bulletin. However, he told The Maui News Thursday that it was a "complex" issue that went beyond money.

Wailuku Water Co. owns about 13,200 acres of West Maui forest reserve watershed lands. However, the deal being worked out between the company and the county does not encompass all of these acres, Chumbley said.

According to the West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership, Wailuku Water Co. provides water for agriculture as well as limited use by the county's Department of Water Supply. Wailuku Water is the descendant of Wailuku Sugar and Wailuku Agribusiness Co., which produced sugar, macadamia nuts and pineapple over a span of almost 140 years. However, the company also drew strong criticism for diverting water from Na Wai Eha, "the four great waters" of Waihee, Waiehu, Wailuku and Waikapu starting in the 19th century, until the state approved the restoration of full flow to the streams in 2014.

"I definitely believe there would be a long-term public benefit for the county of Maui to own (Wailuku Water Co.) assets," Chumbley said. However, he said he would leave it to the mayor to delve into the specific benefits.

Arakawa would only say that the county was in negotiations but has "not reached a full agreement yet."

"Once that happens we will hold a press conference and the full details will become available," he added.

White said that the council "has not received any official details" on the purchase yet.

"If an acquisition has the potential to benefit the future of the county's water system with additional source reliability, along with a fair price tag, it may be worth the investment," White said. "I look forward to thorough discussions once the council receives all the necessary information and obtaining input from the community."

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.