The April 6 Viewpoint by former Mayor Alan Arakawa was remarkable. What Mr. Arakawa considers Maui’s “true water issues” boil down to “adequate supply.”
He wrote the County Council has lacked “focus,” due in part to its concern that there are enough water resources
and that these resources should not be used blindly simply for development of properties not accessible to most of the members of our community.
Adequate supply also deals with adequate storage and equity in the distribution of all water resources.
Throughout most of his time in office, the Department of Water Supply had less than half of the engineering staff designated for that division.
In addition, the then-mayor had a water director who was largely uncommunicative and unconcerned with the public interest. Even for members of the Board of Water Supply access to information was often not easy.
Then, after being defeated in the mayoral election, Mr. Arakawa signed agreements committing the county to courses of action not in the public interest.
No public input was sought, nor was anything known about these agreements until after Mr. Arakawa left office.
Of these agreements, the one with which I am most familiar is the Pi‘iholo Well, presently being dug by Maui Land & Pineapple Co. In the agreement, ML&P is to dig the well then connect it into the county system.
The county is to grant a generous water allocation to properties designated by ML&P and even “pump up” in some instances to provide water for these parcels.
Of course, this means that all of the owners of these properties will get to “jump the list,” and be given water meters before those already on the wait-priority list.
In return for guarantees of water delivery to its properties, ML&P is to turn ownership — and therefore operation — of the Pi‘iholo Well to the county, which would get 25 percent of all water derived from the well.
Present Water Director Jeff Eng considers this to be a great deal for the county, a view not widely held by the Tavares administration or the County Council.
My understanding of the history of the Pi‘iholo Well agreement is that it was negotiated by the deputy director of the department, who then went immediately to work for ML&P.
To me, it seems to be something of a sweetheart deal largely for the benefit of Maui Pine. Had the percentages been reversed the agreement would have been more palatable.
Alan Arakawa is a bright and passionate person. No one worked harder in his administration.
Yet, when it came to issues such as use of the Hamakuapoko wells, he was as adamant and stubborn as he claims Council Member Michelle Anderson is. Anderson’s work on the “Show Me the Water” bill helped focus the community’s attention on allocation of our limited water resources.
Times have changed since the Elmer Cravalho administration.
We need to value each other for the contributions that each of us can make in our communities.
No one is right all the time; no one can win all the time. But we need to move in a manner that is both gracious, inclusive and fosters the well-being of our island community.
n Michael Howden is a member of the Maui County Board of Water Supply and a permaculture designer based in Kula.
