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There’s no argument — Maui needs water. In fact, all of our islands need water.

Rainfall patterns have shifted, temperatures have increased, and droughts are more frequent and more persistent resulting in decreased groundwater recharge. Depleted aquifers risk the intrusion of salt water. Rising sea levels further increase this vulnerability.

Groundwater is the source of 99% of our islands’ drinking water. Reduced groundwater also equates to lower base flow in streams, an important source of irrigation water. We can’t afford to ignore this vital resource.

We need to talk about where our groundwater comes from, learn about the ongoing work to improve our water security, the challenges to these efforts, and be aware of our collective future.

The fresh water in our aquifers is the result of moisture being captured by land. Our watershed forests are the most effective in this process, specifically healthy native forests. These forests are more than trees. They are richly vegetated, from the ground to the canopy, layered with a diversity of plant life.

These forests are especially important where there is frequent moisture. Clouds and fog drench the dense vegetation and gently drip water into soil. In areas with frequent rains, the layers of vegetation moderate rainfall, and undisturbed soils allow for absorption instead of runoff, preventing flooding and erosion, and channeling the water into the ground and safely into streams. This is how we make drinking water and keep our surface waters clean.

Unfortunately, our watershed forests are experiencing multiple threats that are literally eroding their capacity to absorb water. Feral hooved animals enter forested areas and damage plants, spread disease among native species, introduce invasive plants, and erode the soils. Invasive species quickly take hold where they can outcompete native species for resources and lose more water to the atmosphere.

Other introduced species eat native plants, prevent propagation, and spread disease. These threats are ongoing and while the transition can be gradual, the transformation can be dramatic. Dense, diverse forests can be converted to stands of nonnative trees with absent ground cover, land sparsely covered with grass and shrubs, or eroded bare ground.

With shifted rainfall patterns, we now experience infrequent but heavier or continuous rain that further compounds the problem. Damaged lands cause water to rush across the surface, moving sediment, bacteria from feral animals, and other undesirable nutrients into fast-moving flood waters.

There is little time for absorption. These polluted waters enter our streams and other surface waters, another primary freshwater resource, 50% of which is used for irrigation. Hawaii has the highest rate of non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung infection in the U.S. and NTM is contracted through the environment and is associated with soil and water contamination.

When watershed forests are unmanaged and destroyed, we lose the opportunity to capture life-supporting freshwater resources and instead promote damage and disease. Our recreational waters become impaired and coral reefs are smothered.

What most people may not be aware of is that there is an existing collaborative effort to protect these forests and improve our water security — the Watershed Partnerships Program. An alliance between the state, counties, public and private landowners, lessees, and public and private organizations, this program is committed to the long-term protection of priority watershed lands. It allows for conservation groups and agencies to work together to manage areas outside of established government-managed reserves and privately owned preserves.

There are currently 10 island-based Watershed Partnerships active across five islands. They are collectively known as the Hawaii Alliance of Watershed Partnerships. The Honolulu City and County Board of Water Supply, the County of Maui, Department of Water Supply, and the Hawaii County Department of Water Supply are among the partners.

The state, through the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, participates in these partnerships as a grantor, landowner, and provider of both on-the-ground support as well as natural resource management expertise. Management plans are created for area-wide needs that cross landowner boundaries.

Partnerships are voluntary and buy-in is required for plan implementation. Plans may include wildfire management, feral animal management, the control of invasive species, mitigation of erosion, and forest restoration.

Actions can include creating and maintaining firebreaks, installing water tanks, building and maintaining fencing, hooved-animal removal, weed control, and native plant restoration. Civil Beat has previously covered what some of this work looks like.

This program has been successful, but we need to do more. To date, 21% of priority watershed forests are protected out of the 30% target for 2030. The longer we wait, the more work it will be to restore, and we will have missed more opportunities to capture water.

This important work is being done by small teams with insecure funding in the form of grants and donations. What we need is recurring state funding to provide stability for the partnerships and this comes from public support.

Speak to your representatives and share this information with your family and friends. We need to build awareness around this critical issue. Protecting and managing our watershed forests is an act of collective self-preservation. We can and need to do more. Our lives depend on it.