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These are tough, dry times for Upcountry’s troubled water system.

An ongoing lack of rainfall and falling levels of water in Upcountry reservoirs triggered a drought watch by the Department of Water Supply, with a call for voluntary 5 percent cutback by customers, except for agricultural users. Parts of the Upcountry system need repair, and long-term fixes, such as the planned $100 million, 300-million-gallon reservoir, are many years off in the future.

But a bright spot, according to Water Director Jeff Eng, is the Upcountry residents who’ve been diligent about conserving water.

Before the water department called for mandatory 10 percent cutbacks of consumption in June 2007, demand for water in the region reached 10 million gallons per day. For the month of May 2007, Upcountry demand was at 9.48 mgd.

But last week from May 22 to May 28, average daily water consumption in Upcountry was down to 7.77 mgd.

“I’ve been really pleased with the Upcountry demand,” said Eng, who noted that the call for voluntary reductions of water use is a precautionary measure aimed at helping the department manage the water system.

He declined to say Saturday whether it’s inevitable that the department would need to return to mandatory water restrictions for the region.

“It’s something we don’t want to do to the poor Upcountry customers. They’ve done a commendable job,” Eng said.

He said he’s content for now to maintain voluntary cutbacks. “Let’s see how this rides out for a while.”

Now the department’s Upcountry system, which relies primarily on surface water sources susceptible to drought conditions, is being operated in its “drought operational mode,” he said. That means pumping water uphill from the Kamole Water Treatment Plant in Makawao, the Pookela Well and the Piiholo Water Treatment Facility.

Part of drought management is taking the step of cutting production at the Olinda Water Treatment Plant, which began Friday. The facility serves people who draw water from the upper Kula system. They now receive water pumped up from treatment plants at lower elevations, and they might detect a faint chlorine odor in drinking water. Water from the Olinda treatment facility continues to provide for customers on the Olinda line.

The water department is continuing to pursue development of the 300-million-gallon reservoir, which would be located about 3¢ miles northeast of the Piiholo Water Treatment Facility on state conservation land. The project received an important endorsement last week from U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, who pledged to help get federal funding for the project.

Eng said receiving $7.5 million in federal funding would pay for half the estimated $15 million cost of designing, planning and acquiring land for the new reservoir. The Maui County Council approved $3.75 million for the project in fiscal 2009, and the state Legislature authorized a matching amount.

The water director said he didn’t know how long it would take to complete the reservoir project, but he acknowledged that it wouldn’t be surprising if it took 10 years or longer.

“We are doing our best,” he said. “It will take time.

“It will take a lot of the public’s patience, and my patience, too,” he added.

Among other things, the new reservoir would require an environmental impact statement, Eng said.

In the meantime, the water department has plans to improve the Upcountry water system’s ability to capture and retain water.

In fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, the department has $1.5 million to make improvements to the Waikamoi flume, a nearly mile-long, redwood-covered trough that gathers water from the Upcountry watershed and channels it into the 30-million-gallon Waikamoi reservoirs. Those, in turn, feed water into the 100-million-gallon Kahakapao reservoirs.

Eng said he believes the flume was last rebuilt in the early to mid 1990s.

He said he’s not certain how efficient it is or the extent to which water is lost, but “it certainly needs to be repaired or replaced.”

But before that work can be done, he said, a lifeline needs to be installed for workers to safely access the flume. The lifeline would be a cable with a support structure that would allow workers to clip on while they repair and maintain the flume, he said.

Eng estimated it will take about three years to design the safety line and build it and then design the refurbishing of the flume itself and complete that project.

The Waikamoi reservoirs, which are actually two 15-million-gallon areas to hold water, are the oldest Upcountry, Eng said. They probably have problems with siltation, but they’re very difficult to clean and it’s unclear how efficient the reservoirs are in not allowing water to seep away.

There are no immediate plans to make improvements at the Waikamoi reservoirs as other projects have taken a higher priority, he said.

On Friday, the Waikamoi reservoirs remained empty, and Kahakapao was at 16.3 mg. Piiholo had 42.4 mg, or 85.2 percent of its capacity. The Wailoa Ditch, which has a capacity of nearly 200 million gallons per day, was flowing at 21.4 mg, or 10.7 percent of capacity.

In its weekly report issued Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor for Hawaii recorded abnormally dry conditions for most of Maui County and reported moderate drought conditions for Central Maui and west Molokai. Other parts of the state seeing moderate drought conditions included the Kohala area of the Big Island, and east Oahu.

As Maui heads into the dry summer season, rainfall for May has been comparable to last year’s low levels. The Wailuaiki rain gage near Keanae recorded 6.19 inches, compared with 6.9 inches for May 2007. Normal rainfall for the month averages 17.7 inches.

In West Maui, rainfall was up from last year, with a total of 9.34 inches for the month recorded at Puu Kukui, compared to 5.76 inches in May 2007.

But it was still well below normal for the month, which averages 35.2 inches.

Aside from challenging weather conditions, a water infrastructure that needs more storage capacity and constant repairs and maintenance, higher energy costs are taking their toll on the water department. In this fiscal year, which ends June 30, the department budgeted $13.5 million for electricity. That includes all pumping throughout the county as well as operation of the department’s water treatment plants and other facilities. This coming fiscal year, the department has set aside $15 million for power costs.

Eng said the Kamole treatment plant is 1,100 feet above sea level.

From there, water needs to be pumped uphill as far as 4,000 feet to upper Kula.

That 3,000 feet of lift is “extremely expensive,” he said.

Higher water use fees, which go into effect July 1, would help pay for the department’s increasing expenses.

• Staff Writer Ilima Loomis contributed to this report.

• Brian Perry can be reached at bperry@mauinews.com.

 

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