WAILUKU - A draft environmental impact statement lays out A&B Properties' plans to develop a $30 million water treatment plant in Wailuku that would draw 9 million gallons per day from Waihee Ditch and turn it into safe drinking water for Central and South Maui residents.
The additional supply of water would reduce the need to tap as much underground water from the Iao aquifer, which supplies most of the fresh water for the Central Maui system. And the water treatment plant would pave the way for more real estate development.
But the review of the proposed facility's environmental impacts comes as there's an ongoing dispute over the fate of the stream water being sought to supply the plant. The state Commission on Water Resource Management is considering a petition to set instream flow standards in Na Wai Eha, the four streams (Waihee, Waiehu, Iao and Waikapu) that flow out of the West Maui watershed. On April 30, 2008, the commission approved a petition to designate the surface waters as a state water management district. The designation requires all existing users to apply for permits to take water from the streams. Currently, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., a subsidiary of A&B, uses West Maui ditch water to irrigate its sugar cane fields.
Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake, who represents groups seeking instream flow standards for West Maui, was critical this week of A&B's continued work on planning for the water treatment facility.
"We think it's entirely premature for A&B to be making big plans for Na Wai Eha without knowing how much flow must be returned to the streams," he said. "We also think it speaks volumes about HC&S' claims that it needs all the water for sugar. As usual, A&B is trying to have its cake and eat it too."
Rick Volner Jr., HC&S senior vice president for agricultural operations, said the Waiale water treatment plant would not be built unless decisions by the water commission allowed the proposed domestic water use.
"The EIS process is being conducted in the interest of obtaining information that will be important in determining the public benefits and impacts of the proposed community water facility," he said.
Volner added that adequate sources of water are essential to HC&S' success as a sugar plantation.
"In this situation, we are able to replace the water that would be used by the proposed water treatment facility with brackish water wells that are situated within HC&S' fields," he said. "This water will be more expensive to use, as there will be pumping costs involved. However, this is a cost we are willing to incur based on the potential strength and stability that the Waiale water treatment facility can bring to our community and our company."
A&B Properties Vice President Grant Chun said A&B initiated the proposed water treatment facility at the request of Maui County because of the need for more potable water sources in Central Maui.
"Given the timing of the community needs, the numerous government reviews and approvals that the (proposed facility) will require and the county's and A&B's desire to pursue a full EIS for the project, although one is not technically needed, it is important that parallel paths be pursued - for the environmental review, the design and engineering of the plant and government approvals/review."
A decision by the water commission on the Na Wai Eha interim instream flow standards is expected this summer, Chun said.
The Waiale facility "will not be built until that decision is made and unless it accommodates this planned facility," he said. "In the meantime, however, planning for future water sources for Maui's public water system is not something that should be put on hold."
Chun said A&B would develop the water treatment plant and dedicate it to the county for operation by the Department of Water Supply after the facility's completion.
"As currently contemplated, the cost to develop the facility would be shared between A&B and the county and water shared accordingly," he said.
The facility's development terms have not been finalized with the county, and those would be subject to review and approval by the Maui County Council, he said.
A&B's development plans with its water allocation from the treatment plant include: the Maui Business Park located off Puunene Avenue; a 600-unit housing project in north Kihei; and a project district in Waiale, in the vicinity of Waiko Road, that would include housing, parks, schools and neighborhood commercial areas.
In a letter included in the draft environmental impact statement, John Duey, president of Hui O Na Wai Eha, asked A&B not to proceed with plans for the water treatment plant while the interim instream flow issue remained unresolved.
"We are unsure what amount of water, if any, will be available to support A&B's proposed surface water treatment plant," he said in an Aug. 6 letter.
Duey said further work on the project should be suspended until the water commission rules on interim instream flow standards and on individual water use applications for water from Na Wai Eha's streams.
If built, the water treatment plant would be on 3.5 acres on the northern boundary of the Waiale Reservoir, near the Maui Community Correctional Center.
The draft environmental study was filed with the state Office of Environmental Quality Control and published in the office's current issue of its Environmental Notice.
The environmental review is being handled by the Wailuku planning firm of Munekiyo & Hiraga.
* Brian Perry can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.
* This story includes a correction from the original published on Friday, Mar. 27, 2009. The date the state Commission on Water Resource Management's designation of surface waters in the Waihee, Waiehu, Iao and Waikapu streams as a state water management district was incorrect.
