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Faced with increased demands for water, Maui County officials are considering a suite of conservation measures that include restricting how often properties can be irrigated and requiring more efficient systems in new developments.

The Department of Water Supply is seeking public input during a series of community meetings this month about water conservation goals, potential mandates and other priorities.

Working in collaboration with California-based Carollo Engineers, the department will consider the feedback in the development of its new for the county water systems. The plan is expected to be completed by the end of March.

While the county began a primarily incentive-based water conservation program in the late 1990s that has accomplished about 25% savings in water use per metered household, more aggressive and mandated conservation measures are needed now to help mitigate future demands, said Eva Blumenstein, the water department’s planning program manager.

Water demand for the county systems is projected to increase by 14 million gallons per day by 2040 — a 34% increase from its current demand of 41 million gallons per day — due to the county Planning Department’s forecast population growth to 222,000 from 167,000.

Blumenstein said the 25% savings was already “pretty aggressive.” Achieving another 20% is likely doable “but it will take tougher measures.”

Those could come in the form of a proposed water conservation bill that would limit irrigation to three days a week for all of the county’s water customers and require WaterSense fixtures for toilets, urinals, shower heads, faucets, washing machines and dishwashers. It could also require water-efficient irrigation systems for new residential, commercial and resort development, and for redevelopment.

The county would like to require those irrigation restrictions and other mandates for all water users in Maui County. That includes those who get their water from private water utilities, such as the Hawaii Water Service Co. which provides water for many of the large resorts and residences in West Maui.

“We’re still waiting for the legal opinion from the county attorneys,” said John Stufflebean, director of the county water department.

Maui County hired consultant Carollo Engineers, which has an office in Honolulu, to help come up with a portfolio of conservation measures that have worked in other places dealing with water shortages that seem feasible on Maui — and to prioritize them.

are being outlined in five public meetings (three in-person and two online), which began Monday night at Lahainaluna High School for West Maui residents.

Blumenstein said the water department is trying to find out: “Which ones are the biggest bang for the buck? What’s going to have the most water savings? Can we do these? Are they very costly? Are they going to take a lot of staff manpower? Are these acceptable to the public?”

While the West Maui residents who spoke at the Lahaina meeting were in favor of many of the conservation measures, they also had a few ideas of their own that included more use of recycled water and deploying eminent domain for the public to take control of all private water systems in Maui County.

“The true cost of our situation is what the private purveyors do when they go unchecked,” Hawaiian activist Kekai Keahi said.

Keahi challenged the county to get behind the efforts of many residents on Maui who are supporting bills in the Hawaii Legislature to “remove all the water that’s in private hands and put it back into public hands” through the county or state.

Stufflebean, who attended the meeting, said he supports that effort.

“The advantage of public water systems is we don’t have to make a profit by selling water,” he said. “So automatically, if you’re a private water company, they make money by selling more water. So they have that incentive that we don’t have.”

It is a complicated issue about how much water is controlled by the by the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. While those fighting for water rights on Maui say public companies own about 80% of the water access on Maui, much of it is not used.

But for the water that Maui County does control, in 2022 the county passed a that included water conservation over a 20-year planning period.

“In that plan, we already hold a lot of the community input on what kind of water conservation is acceptable,” Blumenstein said. “These new proposals build on that plan to be more aggressive.”

She said Maui County probably already has exceeded the goal to decrease water use per capita by 8% by 2035 that was set by the , a statewide group formed in 2013.

But to impose new aggressive measures, especially those done through amending county code, more public input is needed to make sure they don’t “backfire,” she said. These conservation measures would take place year-round, not just during a water shortage.

Jessica Fritsche, senior planner with Carollo Engineers, said the recommendations for Maui are pulled from successful measures and lessons learned in California, Arizona, Colorado and Texas, which she noted is a state “where it’s like, ‘Don’t tell me what to do’.”

But even the Dallas-Fort Worth area, like most of California, has gone to a permanent three-day-per-week irrigation limit. And Austin, Texas, has gone even further, allowing watering just one day per week. The day is mandated based on a customer’s address.

“There’s been hesitancy,” Fritsche said. “But what we found is people adapted and found that they could actually have the same landscape that they had using much less water.”

Blumenstein pointed out that even in Kihei, where it’s drier, a lawn will still thrive watering just three days a week.

Impacts will be different based on the service area, she said. In South Maui, it’s dry and people irrigate a lot, leading to a higher water use per service. In Haiku, it rains more and water usage is less under normal conditions.

“So even though we have an overall target goal to save 20%, that impact is going to be different in different districts,” Blumenstein said.

One proposed measure is limiting the time of day for irrigation due to the evapotranspiration, known as the ET rate, which is much higher during the daytime hours.

“It’ll just burn off,” Blumenstein said, adding that after 6 p.m. much less water evaporates.

But she said education about irrigation is not just for private water customers, pointing out how the county and state have been seen watering during the day at parks and government buildings.

“We’re not leading by example,” she said.

Blumenstein said the county’s plumbing code should be updated to mandate EPA-approved, water-efficient standards for fixtures for new development. She said the last change to the plumbing code for low-flow toilets, for instance, was close to 30 years ago.

For people who have had toilets prior to 1996, and they use 3.5 gallons or more per flush, the county is offering rebates for ultra-low-flow toilets (1.28 gallons or less per flush), which the county says can save up to 11,000 gallons per year per toilet.

Other county proposals involve limiting water features at resorts and encouraging climate-appropriate landscaping.

Fritsche said another recommendation is the use of advanced metering infrastructure that includes access to the EyeOnWater App, which provides near real-time information on household water consumption.

“This is a fantastic way to save water and lower your water bill,” she said. “Household leaks are about 11% of indoor water use. This can help you know when you have a leak immediately, so you can get it repaired.”

The county already had planned to install these meters, which will end the need for staff to go house-to-house monthly to read meters.

No matter how much water Maui conserves, the county still will have to develop new sources of water.

“We’re still going to have new demand, with the population increasing,” Blumenstein said. “But the more we can conserve, we can mitigate some of that cost because every new source is expensive.”

The county is developing some new water sources. In its six-year Capital Improvement Plan, several wells are proposed around the county and one is under construction near Kapalua Airport. It is expected to go online in January 2025, and will provide about 1.2 million gallons per day to West Maui, Stufflebean said.

Water conservation is always going to be a more affordable — and greener — investment than developing new wells or new treatment facilities, officials said.

The finalized conservation plan will support the county code amendment going in the water conservation bill and the water department’s anticipated request to the Maui County Council for more funding.

It’s not likely enforcement will change from Maui County’s water code, Chapter 14, which says wasting water or excessive use can result in pulling the meter.

“That’s a pretty severe penalty,” Blumenstein said.

Carollo Engineers is working with Maui County to help define what triggers a water shortage or a temporary shortage, and look at factors that include groundwater, surface water, reservoir levels, drought and other weather projections, and operational problems (like pumps not working). And then decide what to mandate customers do during water shortages.

“But we’re not going out asking for community feedback on that,” Blumenstein said. “For that, we’re asking the State Water Commission for feedback. That’s more about hydrology and operations.”

The water shortage triggers will be presented to the county water board in February and then to the state .

For the conservation portion of the plan, there are three more community meetings, which all run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.:

• Upcountry: Wednesday, at Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center
• Hana: Thursday,
• Molokai: Monday,

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.