from Darla White:
Aloha Ocean Stewards,
Mark your calendars! There is an important public participation opportunity coming up on Monday morning concerning injection wells, and if you have the opportunity, please come out and give your comments and/or write them for the public record. As a member of the Maui community you truly have a voice, and I want to encourage you to participate.
The Maui County Council's Infrastructure Committee agenda, chaired by West Maui representative Elle Cochran, will focus on the infrastructure improvements needed to initiate the phasing out of the injection wells (
http://www.co.maui.hi.us/archives/196/110314imagenda.pdf). Please see this link for details on submitting written testimony (it's short). Public testimony is three minutes at the beginning of the session, which starts at 9am in Council Chambers on the top floor of the County Building in Wailuku.
The following announcement went out for a meeting held last week, but it is applicable to the meeting this coming Monday, March 14th. It was very short notice (I received it the afternoon before) and not well attended. This is our opportunity to give it our attention and our thoughts, in person or in writing. Resources and information are given below the announcement.
http://maui-tomorrow.org/?p=398
Posted on February 28, 2011 by Maui Tomorrow Council Committee to review improvements needed to initiate phasing out injection wells
For Immediate Release: February 25, 2011
Press Release by: Councilmember Elle Cochran, Chair Infrastructure Management Committee
WAILUKU, Hawaii - The Maui County Council's Infrastructure Management Committee will receive presentations from participants in the Department of Environmental Management's Wastewater Community Working Group and others, Monday, Feb. 28, (also March 14th) at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chamber, Committee Chair Elle Cochran announced today. Councilmember Cochran emphasized that the meeting will focus primarily on water reuse infrastructure needs and potential infrastructure upgrades that will aid in the long-term goal of phasing out injection wells and encourage the reuse of this valuable resource. The injection well discussion will follow a presentation from Public Works Director David Goode regarding the organization of the Department of Public Works and the Department's current priorities. The Council has indicated support for a policy that moves the County away from reliance on injection wells. Cochran also noted that the Council's Water Resources Committee reviewed the "Central Maui Recycled Water Verification Study, 2010" earlier this month. "I look forward to engaging with the committee members to move beyond discussions and into an analysis of concrete infrastructure improvements needed to initiate phasing out the use of injection wells," Cochran said. "The task is challenging, but with our ability to work intensively on this matter, I am confident that we will be able to better engage with the Department of Environmental Management towards positive results." The meeting is open to the public. Meeting agendas are available on the Infrastructure Management Committee website. To receive meeting agendas via e-mail, please complete the on-line subscription form on the County website at
www.mauicounty.gov. For more information, please contact the Infrastructure Management Committee staff. I have included some background materials to catch you up or refresh your memory (depending on where you are coming in on this important issue):
1) A scientific study by Meghan Dailer and Robin Knox (et al., 2010) –attached
2) USGS researcher Dr Chip Hunt also published a study and it can be found here:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5253/sir2009-5253.pdf (it's rather a large file due to maps and graphics).
3) Environment Hawaii feature story (May, 2010) – attached
4) And a really nice article by Rob Parsons can be found here:
http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2010-05-20-73389.113117-Wastewater-Injection-Wells-May-Be-Polluting-Our-Ocean.html.
5) Another well organized group and fantastic resource is the Dire Coalition – Don't inject, redirect! whose site can be found here:
http://dontinject.org/?page_id=2
6) Testimony to the EPA at public hearings in 2008 and 2009 can be found online at:
http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/groundwater/uic-permits.html
This is your island. Please be informed. Please ask questions. Please participate.
For fishable, swimmable waters.
Mahalo,
Darla
Darla J White
Special Projects Coordinator
Hawai`i Division of Aquatic Resources, Maui
130 Mahalani Street, Wailuku HI 96793
Eyes of the Reef
Climate Change, Marine Disease, & Invasive Species Local Action Strategy
Island Coordinator, Maui
www.reefcheckhawaii.org/eyesofthereef
Cell: 808-345-2312, Fax 888-570-2641
onareef@yahoo.com
darla.j.white@hawaii.gov
