HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – There was plenty of blame to go around Tuesday after the PGA announced cancellation of the Sentry tournament in Kapalua due to lack of irrigation for the golf course.
At a meeting of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, both supporters and critics of the golf course blamed the owners of the water system and the state for the water shortage.
It was apparently a coincidence that the tournament was cancelled on the same day the water commission heard complaints about water management in the area and heard that many people were suffering from the same problem
The plantation course at Kapalua Resort has hosted the season opening tournament since 1999, but lack of water made it impossible to get the course ready by January.
Course owner TY Properties sued Maui Land and Pineapple a month ago, accusing the company of letting its stream diversion system deteriorate so it wasted so much water there wasn’t enough left for the golf courses.
But TY Properties attorney Grant Allison told the commission it had actually been begging to use water from wells owned by MLP.
“For the six months prior to August, when TY management was told to essentially use zero water to irrigate, and it has used zero water,” Allison said. “That’s why the golf course is brown and dying. That’s why the Sentry won’t happen.”
But Maui Land and Pine’s CEO Race Randle said it was relying for guidance from commission chair Dawn Chang, who seemed to authorize well water use temporarily in an email three weeks ago.
But the spigots haven’t opened, and the CEO says there are still other priorities for the water.
“We comply with the guidance on delivery of water, and we’ve been doing that,” Randle said. “First and foremost in priority is the community members in the street, in Honokohau Valley. And if there’s water available, we’ll be on that. We send it to where it’s prioritized to go,” he said.
Under the state water code, some water from the streams is set aside for traditional users such as taro growers, for Hawaiian home lands and the county drinking water system, after those the company told the commission it prioritizes residential drinking water and fire protection storage.
But many who are priority users, including local taro farmers who rely on consistent stream water, are also upset with Maui land and Pine and its water distributor, Hawaii Water System, and delays in decisions by the water commission.
Karyn Kanekoa, who farms taro and was chosen by neighbors to represent the Honokohau community, said, “I am here today because the people of Honokohau, the people across Maui, are pissed, disgusted, sad our water situation is desperate and they have only gotten worse.”
Kanekoa said crops are dying during the drought and their children are endangered by water surges that came without warning from the Maui Land and Pine system.
Others, including Lahaina taro farmer Lauren Palakiko, said they oppose the use of drinkable water for golf courses.
“That is appalling and absolutely unacceptable,” she told the commission. “It doesn’t matter if they have previously made this atrocious decision to pump ground water to water the grass of nonessential activities.”
Even though it’s too late to save the tournament, Water Commission and Land Board Chair Dawn Chang urged the companies and agencies involved to take action, because the commission process is too slow to order immediate action.
“I really would appeal to those of you who have the ability to do something, to hear their concerns and address them,” Chang said.
The water commission staff said it would consider setting a priority for West Maui when it finally starts issuing water use permits.
Long-term solutions include major improvements in reservoirs and storage to save water from frequent major rain events, additional recycling of wastewater for irrigation, interconnection of privately owned systems, desalination, potentially placed under county control.
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