Could the groundwater beneath Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park and the surrounding area be placed under the control of the state, while management of the rest of the aquifer stays as it is? ADVERTISING Could the groundwater beneath Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical
Could the groundwater beneath Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park and the surrounding area be placed under the control of the state, while management of the rest of the aquifer stays as it is?
The question is implicit in a new filing by the National Park Service, which asks the state Commission on Water Resource Management to define a “water management area.” While the commission has never designated anything less than an entire aquifer for management, the March 20 petition for declaratory order asks whether a management area could be comprised of the basal — or coastal freshwater lens — groundwater system within the Keauhou aquifer system.
The petition also asks CWRM whether a management area also could be defined as one or more ahupuaa — or historic land divisions — inside the aquifer system area.
The notion of a smaller state water management area for the aquifer surfaced at a December 2014 meeting when the commission took up the NPS petition to designate the Keauhou aquifer a state water management area. The County of Hawaii opposes a system of state permits, saying it manages the water effectively without such state oversight.
“We did approach the commission staff about just designating the basal aquifer,” park hydrologist Paula Cutillo said at that meeting. “I think two or three years ago we had a conversation with the commission about that and they told us at the time it was not possible because that’s not an official management unit.”
Calls and emails to CWRM, commission members and county Department of Water Supply officials were not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.
Faced with concerns about future pumping on water levels and ecosystems in the park, and concern from the county, residents and businesses on the implications of the added layer of state bureaucracy, the commission in December put off a decision and instead ordered the county and federal park to explore alternatives for managing the aquifer and future pumping. CWRM is scheduled to make a final decision on designation no earlier than June.
