Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 8, 1 August 2009 — Water use restricted on Molokaʻi [ARTICLE]

Water use restricted on Molokaʻi

An estimated 1,275 water customers on Moloka'i are being urged to limit their water use to heahh and safety purposes until repairs ean be completed on a broken water pump that serves the island's most populated area from Kala'e

to Kaunakakai. As of press time, households and businesses in the area were being told by Maui County officials to expect little or no water pressure due to diminishing watertank storage levels. Meanwhile, the county and state are working to make water available from a second well on state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property. Maui County officials have made a 5,000-gallon water tanker available for residents should water service halt. The broken Kualapu'u Well was temporarily out of order in lune and replaced then by DHHL well service. Residents and businesses were then asked by the county to conserve water. County officials earlier reported that the repairs to the Kualapu'u Well were scheduled to be finished by July 10. Water availability has been at the center of controversy before on Moloka'i, where some wells on the island's west end appear to have

gone salty. Some residents say this is a result of prior development activities under the now-defunct Moloka'i Properties Ltd. and current expansion by Monsanto for genetically engineered corn production. Maui County requires developers to show water-use plans as a condition of the permitting process.