Follow-up on Yesterdays post on Water in Maui

Happy Wednesday everyone!

We just wanted to follow up to our post yesterday because there was a very interesting editorial in the Maui News today (Wed., April 14, 2010) on page A3 by Tom Stevens in the Shave Ice section.

He commented on the upcoming potential for Maui's Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. (HC&S) plantation to be converted into an "energy farm." Stevens' thoughts were similar to our post yesterday, that it would be beneficial to our County water needs to NOT have sugar as the major crop anymore. Apparently there is some government funding going to the University of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct feasibility studies for other crops or a conversion of the factory at Puunene into a new high-tech facility.

We would like to say Kudos to Tom Stevens for pointing out some (supposedly) obvious facts that:

1. Different crops could potentially use less water and generate "less dust, smoke and ash at harvest time",

2. That any decision by the state Commission on Water Resource Management next month on whether or not to return water to some streams will ultimately effect the outcomes of what HC&S could potentially grow in the future, and finally

3. Interestingly that despite the option to switch to more drought-resistant options, Stevens' writes that U.S. Senator Dan Inouye (who announced the planned study to send more than $4 million to Hawaii per year in federal funds to this project) says that "HC&S' water needs are not likely to diminish, regardless of what it plants."

Lets, as a community, begin to think outside of the 'Sugar Bowl' and attempt to move towards a more sustainable future for our local economy here on Maui. Thank you, Tom Stevens, for making the most valuable and pointed remark to conclude your piece, that "Maybe we're still, and always, talking about water."

Water Conservation on Maui

I would like to point out the inefficiency of watering plants (of all types) during the mid-day hours. I am often driving in Central Maui around noon and see many large sprinkler systems up and running, spraying large amounts of our precious water over the dry, parched Central Maui landscape on the West Maui side. You can also regularly see this happening to water the Sugarcane crop found along the Honoapiilani Highway, a crop that already uses an enormous amount of water to survive. A study from the University of Florida sited at least a 1.5% loss just from evaporation when you water during the daytime (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae048) . This didn't include the loss numbers from wind-blown episodes, which happens frequently in Central Maui and elsewhere. There are around 35,000 acres of sugar planted on Maui on Alexander & Baldwin lands (Pacific Business News, Friday, January 29, 2010). Sugar needs about 1500 to 2500 mm of irrigation during the growing season. Even with the minimum of the 1500 mm of rainfall (equivalent to 60 inches of rainfall), 1.5% of this equals nearly an inch of rainfall that can be lost over a small area due to evaporation alone.
The moral of this story is, water in the early mornings, when winds are light and solar radiation is at a low rate. This will invariably save Maui's water while maintaining a healthy crop of grasses for foraging animals or for your sugarcane!
For a list of 25 things you can do to prevent water waste, please visit the Maui County Department of Water Supply's useful list here

Thanks for listening!