Officials inspect part of an extensive system that diverts water flow in Honopou. - Photo: Courtesy NHLC

Water to return to East Maui lo'i kalo

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola

Lyn Scott is a full-time farmer of some very dry lo'i kalo in what should be one of the wettest parts of Maui. “One day get water. Next day, auē! No mo' water,” Scott said. “This past summer was really dry. Nothing was coming down the stream to replenish our springs. No water, no taro.”

The stream that should feed her lo'i in the ahupua'a of Honopou is one of many that are diverted to feed the irrigation and municipal water needs of central Maui, at the expense of Native Hawaiian farmers growing traditional crops, such as Scott.

Thanks to tireless advocacy by farmers and legal help from the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, some relief may be coming soon to Scott's dry, cracked lo'i. A partial victory came in September to a seven-year battle by East Maui kalo farmers to have sufficient water flow restored to the streams that feed their lo'i.

Although water use decisions should be made for the “maximum beneficial use” of water under the state water code, the code also requires that provisions must be made for the protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights, an objective declared to be in the public interest.

Beatrice Kekahuna, left, and her niece Lyn Scott, both kalo farmers in Honopou, Maui, stand in front of a freshly-planted lo'i which is filling with fresh water. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom

But the water code was not being followed, and when it came down to diverting about 160 million gallons of water a day for use in Central Maui or letting streams flow naturally down the Hāmākua coast to the sea, kalo farmers in East Maui were left with the dry end of the stick, argued a group of kalo farmers.

The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is representing Nā Moku Aupuni O Ko'olau Hui, the group of kalo farmers from East Maui, in two proceedings with the goal of increasing the amount of water flowing in the streams that feed the lo'i kalo of these farmers; the first petitioning the state's Commission on Water Resources Management to amend the flow standards by which water use decisions are made, and the second challenging the Board of Land and Natural Resources' (BLNR) permitting the removal and transport of water from these streams.

September's partial victory came in the first proceeding at a meeting of the water commission.

Ke'anae kalo farmers look forward to the return of water flow now that the agreement has begun to take effect. This conduit feeds all the lo'i in Ke'anae. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom

In 2001, NHLC filed petitions with the commission on behalf of East Maui kalo farmers to amend flow standards for 27 East Maui streams. Petitions are allowed under the state's water code to correct imbalances in the ecology of the stream and to respect water rights; in this case, for growing kalo. The law required the commission to act on those petitions within 180 days.

The purpose of the commission's flow standard is to ensure that any diversions of the stream do not have a negative effect on stream life or the water rights of downstream users, such as these kalo farmers. The problem with the existing flow standards for these streams was that they were established in 1988, many decades after water had been diverted by the East Maui Irrigation Co. The 1988 standards were established without regard for the water rights of the downstream users, allowing the diversion of water to continue, according to Alan Murakami, the NHLC attorney handling the proceedings.

In September, the commission decided to act upon the petitions in eight of the 27 streams petitioned. But the changes haven't yet been put into place, because the current levels of the streams are still being measured so that the restored flow can be compared to the current flow. Once the measurements are complete, the flow should be restored.