WAILUKU -- The Board of Water Supply has reversed a committee decision of last week and decided to spend $25,000 to support a study of rainfall in East Maui.
Director of Water Supply David Craddick had supported the appropriation, because forecasts about East Maui are not very accurate. East Maui supplies all Upcountry's drinking water from surface collection and also provides the bulk of irrigation water to Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.
Board members had had doubts about the usefulness of the data.
One, Jim Murray, came to Tuesday's meeting with additional questions and in a mood to change his mind.
Craddick, meanwhile, had come up with another reason to help the University of Hawaii scientists working on the study. This group is publishing an ``ENSO'' newsletter on the progress of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation weather pattern.
This recurrent event usually produces droughts in East Maui, and has even worse effects in some other Pacific islands.
With the Pacific heading into an unusually strong El Nino period, this information will be valuable, Craddick said.
A previous study, with the same principal investigator, allowed prediction of rainfall in East Maui with an accuracy of better than 60 percent -- considerably better than the National Weather Service's long-term average.
The next study, Craddick expects, will raise the accuracy even higher.
As for its value, Craddick said the old study forecast the drought that affected East Maui starting last August. ``It heightened activity in our department.''
And board member Bob Takitani said it would be worth the money ``to be proactive.'' Better data could influence the timing of capital improvement work.
Craddick also said the Maui contribution helps support larger climate studies, which the department also uses, so that Maui gets more than $25,000 worth of data.
The board voted 5-2 to participate.
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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 .