Often during the summer months on Maui, upcountry property owners are required to cutback on water usage, but this summer, not only is upcountry being required to cutback but Central and South Maui are being asked to voluntarily cut back on water usage too.
Upcountry water is from streams in the East Maui watershed, so when summer comes and it rains less than usual, upcountry residents have to conserve water. This is difficult because many of the Maui farms are Upcountry, but it has been happening for years. Central and South Maui consisting of Paia, Kahului, Wailuku, Waihee, Waikapu, Maalaea, Kihei, Wailea and Makena get most of their water from aquifers in the West Mauimountains. The aquifers that feed these areas have a sustainable estimated yeild is of 24 million gallons per day, in July, 28.3 million gallons per day were used. With fresh water floating on top of salt water, the risk is, if we take too much water too fast from the aquifer, it will begin pumping salt water.
South Maui is actually a desert, it generally gets less than 10 inches of rain per year. With so many new developments in the area and Maui real estate being so sought after, many Kihei and Wailea homes and condoshave been landscaped extravagantly with lush vegetation and some with water features. Also South Maui golf courses consume huge amounts of water along with Wailea and Makena resorts. In the 1960's and 1970's it was rare to ever see a banana tree in South Maui, now many Kihei and Wailea homes have them along with heleconia, ginger and many other rain forest plants.
Some examples of the tropical landscaping used for Kihei homes
Some of the possible solutions~
- Use of grey water for irrigation
- Use of native Hawaiian plants that are adapted to the climate
- Slowing down the development in Maui
- Drilling more wells
Resources~
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