By HARRY EAGAR
Staff Writer
WAILUKU -- Director of Water Supply David Craddick put the question to his board Thursday: In protecting Iao aquifer, does the board want him to stop issuing meters in Central and South Maui?
County Council Chairman Pat Kawano has introduced a resolution that, if passed, would advise the board to do that. But no member of the board spoke in favor.
OK then, said Craddick, if he is going to keep issuing meters, then he has got to have a groundwater shortage rule in order to have any chance of success with a conservation drive.
``You can get behavioral change with a rule,'' he said.
The board happens to have a professional psychologist as a member, Natalie Powell, and she agreed. ``It is pretty well accepted that behavior will change when there are consequences,'' she said.
The entire board is convinced of the need to step up conservation and reuse efforts. In fact, minutes earlier it had voted to fund an unfilled administrative assistant position to provide public education on conservation.
The Department of Water Supply has $200,000 in its current budget for conservation.
Craddick said he was reluctant to support a mere ``feel good'' campaign without teeth.
He said he was certain that if the department ran advertisements asking customers to be careful of overuse, there would be a positive response -- but that it would quickly erode once the ads stopped appearing.
If, in the meantime, he had issued meters on the basis of the water being saved by voluntary cutbacks, then where would the department be?
``There is confusion in the community,'' he said. Some people would be happy to see an end to new meters, while others would not.
Some people are convinced the central-south system is in the midst of an emergency. But, Craddick said, even the deputy director of the state Commission on Water Resource Management, Rae Loui, has stated the situation is not an emergency.
Loui has strongly urged the commission to take control of the aquifer.
Withdrawals from the aquifer had run above sustainable levels for more than a year, although Craddick reported that use now is under 20 million gallons per day (12-month moving average) and still falling.
The commission has said it will designate the aquifer if the average tops 20 mgd.
The water rules have long allowed the director to restrict use in an emergency. Craddick argued to the board that he also needs a rule that would allow him to invoke restrictions in periods short of an emergency.
He noted that Upcountry, where there are periodic drought emergencies, he stops issuing new meters during crises.
One problem with public perception is that it is obvious when Upcountry is in a crisis. The reservoirs dry up.
But Upcountry uses surface water. There is no visual cue to tell the public that a groundwater source is in crisis.
The way the department recognizes the crisis is by measuring the increase in salt in the water.
Despite widespread statements that Iao aquifer is being ruined, the chloride levels in the drinking water wells have not risen and are only a fraction of levels regarded as satisfactory.
However, in much deeper monitoring wells, salt levels are rising, signaling that the aquifer will be damaged if nothing is done.
Craddick said he does not consider the current situation an emergency. ``If we were doing nothing, then, yes, I would agree it is an emergency.''
Among steps already taken are opening a new well in the North Waihee aquifer and increasing water rates. It is not yet clear how much conservation the higher rates will encourage.
The board attempted to get a groundwater shortage rule in place earlier this year, but the County Council rejected it.
Craddick says he believes part of the reason was that the council thought the proposed penalties were a back-door method of obtaining another rate increase.
That would not be the case, he told the board. If a cutback were declared, only those people who ignored the restrictions would be penalized financially. (Or even, in flagrant, continuing situations, by loss of meter; though this provision has never actually gone that far Upcountry, where there are shortage rules.)
The financial penalties would be a surcharge on a bill of two to 20 times, depending on the seriousness of the overuse. This is not excessive, said Craddick. In California, Santa Barbara's penalties are five times harsher.
Planner Ellen Kraftsow gave the board a stack of water management plans from other communities.
Experience elsewhere has shown ``you need the carrot and the stick,'' she said.
In trying to drive down average consumption, there are short-term and long-term strategies. Both are needed.
And after long-term strategies (such as using landscaping adapted to dry conditions) are up and running, a water department has more flexibility in reacting to temporary situations, she said.
Honolulu, which unlike Maui has a shortage of unexploited water resources, has had a conservation program in place for almost 25 years. The water department there spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year promoting conservation, very successfully.
But, said Craddick, Honolulu put a shortage rule in place first, then started promoting conservation.
Customers there know that if they don't conserve voluntarily, penalties will be invoked. At present, Maui customers don't face that stimulus.
``If there's a rule, I can be very proactive'' in pursuing conservation, Craddick said.
The board decided to attack the groundwater shortage rule at its Rules Committee meeting on Oct. 16.
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Psy 412 Miami University. Last revised: . This document has been accessed times since July 15, 1997. Comments & Questions to R. Sherman .