On July 18, the County Council passed a resolution bringing the option of local water control to voters on the Nov. 8 ballot.

If approved, the charter amendment will create an East Maui Community Water Authority and Community Board and provide the option to create additional local water authorities and boards. The purpose is to acquire water systems to increase water availability and manage water as a public trust resource for the benefit of the people as mandated by our state constitution.

Support for putting the question of water authorities before the voters has been nearly universal, including from community members, the Board of Water Supply, Mayor Michael Victorino, state Sen. Lynn DeCoite, U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

At a recent Board of Water Supply meeting, I was asked how Resolution 22-119, CD1, FD2 passed. I explained that this legislation built off the extensive work of the Board of Water Supply’s temporary investigative group report on the East Maui water leases, which recommended that the county acquire the leases.

It is also common sense to allow local residents to decide whether they want to have local control of our most precious resource.

The current East Maui water lease applicant is owned jointly by Alexander & Baldwin and Mahi Pono Holdings. Mahi Pono’s sole investor and member-owner is Public Sector Pension Investment, a Canadian government pension fund manager whose sole purpose is to make money to support Canadian retirees.

They are asking for 30-year leases. If granted, this will place a significant amount of our water resources under the control of a foreign, for-profit investor entity.

According to quarterly reports submitted by East Maui Irrigation Company LLC to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, millions of gallons of water diverted per day are shown to have no productive agricultural use. And in the lease application, the current applicant stated they have no plans to fix the leaks in the water system.

This caused alarm in our community. As was stated in testimony, this waste takes water that could be used by Upcountry residents, farmers and ranchers and for watershed restoration and lets it flow out through leaks into the ground far from the watershed.

In response, I held 15 meetings in my committee where we learned that local water authorities are the most common form of municipal water management in the world and that communities all across the U.S. have upgraded their 100-year-old water systems using federal infrastructure funding. As government agencies, Maui County Community Water Authorities will have the ability to obtain significant private, state and federal funding not available to private, for-profit entities.

As government agencies, water authorities also have an unambiguous obligation to manage water resources for the benefit of the people.

Local community boards will approve watershed management plans to ensure that water resources are managed responsibly.

The idea to extend water authorities countywide was at the request of the county’s managing director, who in committee noted that East Maui is not the only dilapidated legacy plantation water system that could benefit from local municipal control and specifically mentioned the Molokai, Wailuku Water and West Maui private systems.

In response, the charter amendment was expanded to allow other communities to set up water authorities, and to add staff positions to assist.

Increased water availability could also bolster food security for our community. The new Department of Agriculture — which was created by a charter amendment that I introduced for the 2020 general election — will also play a huge role in securing water for food production.

‘Oi ‘Oi ‘O Maui Hikina. For over a century, the impacts of sugar cane plantations have taken their toll on our island environment by destroying native forests and habitats and by dewatering streams.

It is time for Maui County residents to consider whether to change unsustainable practices and return to ancient sustainable practices of ahupua’a management. As stewards of our own destiny, we are called to hana lima ‘ilalo, to put in the work so future generations may thrive.

* Shane M. Sinenci is chair of Maui County Council’s Agricultural and Public Trust Committee. He holds the council seat for the East Maui residency area. “Council’s 3 Minutes” is a column to explain the latest news on county legislative matters. Go to mauicounty.us for more information.