MĀKAHA BEACH

Response: Well owners that use water for their personal domestic uses would not have to get a water use permit. If they are using water for commercial, farming, municipal, or other uses, then they would have to fill out a water use permit application in the first year of designation. Many of the smaller wells are in lower lying areas (i.e., not tapping into the mountain dikes). The wells will be more vulnerable to sea level rise and a shrinking basal lens of well water. So it may be even more important for the smaller wells to get permits to announce their uses and protect them from over pumping in nearby areas by other wells.

The Water Code has special protections for Hawaiian traditional and customary rights and kuleana lands with appurtenant water rights. Specifically, they won’t be impacted by the failure to apply for permits.  HRS §174C-101 provides in relevant part:

(c)  Traditional and customary rights of ahupua‘a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778 shall not be abridged or denied by this chapter.  Such traditional and customary rights shall include, but not be limited to, the cultivation or propagation of taro on one's own kuleana and the gathering of hihiwai, opae, o‘opu, limu, thatch, ti leaf, aho cord, and medicinal plants for subsistence, cultural, and religious purposes.

(d)  The appurtenant water rights of kuleana and taro lands, along with those traditional and customary rights assured in this section, shall not be diminished or extinguished by a failure to apply for or to receive a permit under this chapter.  er to this item.

As a practical matter though, it is better to get the permit in order to make sure CWRM knows about the protected water uses and doesn’t unknowingly permit other uses that could infringe on them. That is, if a traditional and customary practitioner or appurtenant rights holder never says anything, then others around them could get permits to pump out water that could impact them.

Response:  The public process for stream protection is petitioning with CWRM for an interim instream flow standard to be set for Kiko`o stream to protect “instream uses.”  These are defined as:

Beneficial uses of stream water for significant purposes which are located in the stream and which are achieved by leaving the water in the stream.  Instream uses include, but are not limited to:

(1)  Maintenance of fish and wildlife habitats; (2)  Outdoor recreational activities; (3)  Maintenance of ecosystems such as estuaries, wetlands, and stream vegetation; (4)  Aesthetic values such as waterfalls and scenic waterways; (5)  Navigation; (6)  Instream hydropower generation; (7)  Maintenance of water quality; (8)  The conveyance of irrigation and domestic water supplies to downstream points of diversion; and (9)  The protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights.

HRS §174C-3. As a practical matter, Kiko`o stream restoration may depend on what has caused it to dry up. Drought, for instance, may be outside of the hands of CWRM or any agency.nswer to this item.

Response: By “unregulated” wells, I am assuming you mean wells that are not reporting their usage to CWRM. CWRM has the authority to enforce the water code with penalties like fines, but generally must obtain consent of property owners to enter private property to do investigations and the like. It is possible well owners may lie in their reports, but that would be risking significant fines and other penalties to this item.

Response: The “regulation plan” referenced above is the petition to designate Wai‘anae moku as a ground water management area, correct? Once designated, all groundwater users will be required to apply for permits to use/ pump groundwater. If those uses of groundwater are affecting streams in Maili, Mākaha, or Mākua, then CWRM should be made aware of this so that they can deny or add conditions permits for water uses that are unreasonably affecting the streams. Further, interested persons can call for contested cases on any CWRM decisions on water use permits that may impact persons with rights in those stream waters.

Response: Here’s a map of Mākaha surface waters from the Townscape Mākaha Valley Flood Study (2014) available at: https://dlnreng.hawaii.gov/fcds/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2014/09/Public-DRAFT-Makaha-Flood-Report.pdf

“There are two sources of surface water in Mākaha Valley: Mākaha Stream, and the smaller Eku Stream. Mākaha Stream originates at the back of the valley with most of the water feeding from the waterfalls of Mount Ka‘ala. . . Mākaha Stream does not have a permanent connection to the ocean, but it is believed that in historic times, Mākaha Stream was a perennial stream that flowed every day from the mountain to the sea. The decrease in stream flow may be a result of climate change and stream water diverted for irrigation uses.”  Final Environmental Assessment for the Makaha Valley Loʻi Restoration Project, at 21 (2015) available at: http://oeqc2.doh.hawaii.gov/EA_EIS_Library/2015-01-23-OA-FEA-Makaha-Valley-Loi-Restoration.pdf (Makaha loʻi project FEA).

There are no “declared” surface water uses of Mākaha stream. However, there are groundwater uses (which would be regulated if Wai‘anae moku becomes a water management area (WMA)).

The wells that are actually pumping in the Mākaha aquifer system are listed above. I’m not sure which ones are high level and reduce the amount of water in Mākaha stream. Glover Tunnel takes water from the higher level dike aquifer. Unused tunnel flow is routed into Mākaha Stream at the Glover Tunnel portal.  Glover tunnel supplies water to the Mauna ‘Olu 530 reservoir, which is used for irrigation, including for the Makaha Valley Golf Course.

You’ve likely already seen BWS’ Wai‘anae Watershed Management Plan (2009) available at: https://www.boardofwatersupply.com/bws/media/files/waianae-wmp-final-report-full-2009-08.pdf. This plan includes an overview of streams, including Mākaha stream, and their resources. Mäkaha Stream ranked “Moderate” in terms of aquatic resources, meaning that at least one native species from the indicator species group was observed based on the CWRM’s Hawai‘i Stream Assessment: A Preliminary Appraisal of Hawai‘i’s Stream Resources, p. 153 (1990) available at: https://files.hawaii.gov/dlnr/cwrm/publishedreports/R84_HSA.pdf. 

The species there listed is ‘o‘opu nākea, but it was surveyed in 1976. The upper reaches of Mākaha stream were reported to have the following species in a 2015 document.

Otherwise, we are not aware of any maps or studies of protected species habitat in the lower lying areas or areas of the diversions.

Response: The specific lo‘i restoration project indicated here is Mōhala i ka Wai. In 2015, BWS completed environmental review documents for the project available here: http://oeqc2.doh.hawaii.gov/EA_EIS_Library/2015-01-23-OA-FEA-Makaha-Valley-Loi-Restoration.pdf, these were prepared by Townscape.

Townscape is a planning firm based in Honolulu. Townscape prepared BWS’ Wai‘anae Watershed Management Plan (linked above), DHHL’s Wai‘anae and Lualualei regional plan (2011) available here: https://dhhl.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Waianae-Lualualei-Regional-Plan.pdf, CWRM Water Resource Protection Plan (2019), a Mākaha Valley Flood Study for DLNR (linked above), and has worked with Ka‘ala Farm to do master planning.

Response: In 1999, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues a non-jeopardy Biological Opinion for routine military training at Makua Military Reservation with the understanding that the Army would develop a conservation plan. The Final Implementation Plan for Makua Military Reservation, Island of Oahu (May 2003) was prepared to guide conservation efforts that will result in the stabilization of 27 endangered plant taxa and an endangered species of Hawaiian tree snail that could be affected by military training activities at Makua Military Reservation (MMR) in Hawai‘i. When stabilization of the species is achieved, restrictions to routine training may possibly be eliminated, following reinitiation of consultation with the USFWS. 

 Here is a link to the 2005 update on the Makua Implementation plan available at: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/hpicesu/DPW/2003_MIP/Add/Addendum_Edited.pdf.  Part of the plan requires the Army to conduct conservation management efforts on nearby lands, including the BWS, with whom the Army had a memorandum of understanding.

The last update I saw is from 2018, available from the OARNP site: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hpicesu/DPW/2018_YER/default.htm.

Response: The 16 million gallons a day (mgd) was the sustainable yield for the entire Wai‘anae aquifer sector under the 2008 CWRM Water Use Protection Plan. The 2019 update reduced sustainable yields to 13 mgd for the same area:

Currently CWRM has reports for two wells in Ke‘eau aquifer system, which includes Mākua aquifer sector. I don’t see any USGS references in the EISPN that you quoted but this is the kind of information that goes into the WMA designation assessment. I’ll follow up with the EISPN preparers. There are military wells that don’t report to CWRM so maybe that is what USGS was referencing.