Director says demand on water system ‘reasonable’

WAILUKU - Water levels were falling in the Upcountry system last week, but the demand "was reasonable," and Water Director Jeff Eng said he appreciates efforts being made to reduce water use.

In his weekly water use report, Eng said demand was down slightly on the Central Maui system that provides for Kihei-Makena as well as the central areas of Waihee, Wailuku, Kahului, Spreckelsville and Paia.

Overall consumption was down by 590,000 gallons a day over the previous seven-day period.

"It was good to see that production demand for Central and South Maui lessened this past week," he said. "While Upcountry Maui's demand tweaked up a bit, the overall county demand was reasonable."

He said while water flows were falling in the Upcountry system, despite periodic showers in Central Maui and in the watersheds, there still are "good levels of raw water storage and adequate ditch flows at this time."

As of Friday, the Upcountry reservoirs held 148.6 million gallons. Capacity is 180 million gallons. The Wailoa Ditch that provides water at the Kamole Weir treatment plant was flowing at 60.1 million gallons a day.

Demand on the Upcountry system was reported to have bumped up to 9 mgd Wednesday, but the overall average for the week was below 8 mgd.