A Watershed Achievement: On August 28, the state Commission on Water Resource Management adopted the 2008 Water Resources Protection Plan, which is perhaps the most important of the six plans that collectively make up the Hawai`i Water Plan as it serves as the official inventory of water resources statewide. Although parts of the previous WRPP had been updated over the years, the document itself had not been updated in 18 years.
While all of the sustainable yields for the state’s groundwater aquifers are updated in the plan, new interim instream flow standards, which determine how much surface water is available for human use and consumption, are not included in the plan since the Water Commission is still in the process of setting them.
Ideally, the plan should be used to help ensure that development does not impinge on water resources, and looking island by island, it appears there is room for growth: Groundwater pumpage on Kaua`i, Hawai`i, and Moloka`i is less than five percent of the total sustainable yields for those islands. Maui is pumping about 16 percent of its sustainable yield, while O`ahu, not surprisingly, is pumping the most, about 42 percent. In certain hotspots, however, such as O`ahu’s North Shore and the `Iao aquifer in Maui’s Wailuku sector, pumping is at about 95 percent of sustainable yields. (Although pumping in central Maui actually exceeds current sustainable yields considerably, the plan notes that the substantial irrigation recharge in that area has not been factored into the yields for the sector’s Paia and Kahului aquifers.)
While the long-awaited plan has been roundly praised by the commission and members of the public, Water Commission chair Laura Thielen said at its adoption that the fact that it hadn’t been updated in 18 years “leaves a lot of people unprepared for changes.” Even so, attorney William Tam noted that the plan’s flexibility, which allows new data to be included at any time, will allow it to serve as an “early warning system” upon which land use decisions can be based.
The plan is available on the Water Commission’s website at [url=http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/cwrm/planning_wrpp.htm#2008update]http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/cwrm/planning_wrpp.htm#2008update[/url] and can be downloaded in its entirety (13.86 MB) or in sections.
Bridging the Gap: The state Board of Land and Natural Resources voted September 12 to add 650 acres of `ohi`a-dominated forest to north Kaua`i’s Hono o Na Pali Natural Area Reserve, thus filling the small but significant gap between the NAR and the state’s Alakai Wilderness Preserve. The addition creates a corridor for native ecosystem conservation that now runs from the top of Mount Wai`ale`ale to the ocean.
The Natural Area Reserve Commission, which advises the Land Board, first approved the concept of the expansion in August 2003. The area contains intact native wet forest and several species of rare and endangered plants, as well as three endangered birds (koloa, kama`o and `o`u). The addition also includes recently designated critical habitat for eight rare plants.
The Book of Honu: Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett are a husband-and-wife team who have turned their passion for sea turtles into a near full-time vocation. They divide their time between Canada and the west coast of Maui, where they have dived and photographed honu for the last two decades. Their photographs – many available online at [url=http://www.turtle.org]www.turtle.org[/url] – have documented the lives, and, occasionally, the deaths, of many of the animals that inhabit the reef off Honokowai.
Now, the University of Hawai`i has published The Book of Honu by the Bennetts. The 142-page paperbound volume is generously illustrated with the authors’ photographs and the reading level should be accessible to any fourth-grader, but it still contains enough substance to satisfy curious adults. The amazing photographs alone are worth the price of admission: $18.95.
Volume 19, Number 4 October 2008
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