2019-02-07 Hearing Transcript - Piilani Partners LLC SMA 18-070

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NANCE: Oh, it's rainfall, so obviously the greatest amount of rainfall is, I mean the greatest amount of recharge is where the rainfall is greater, so that belt of maybe from three, four thousand feet to six or seven thousand feet is where most of the recharge occurs. BUNN: Is it possible that water from Lake Waiau up at the summit of Mauna Kea would be pumped by Pi`ilani's proposed well? NANCE: It—well, I can't say it's impossible, but I think the chances may be one in a billion or something. I have some done some work on Lake Waiau, and I've read the research on it. Lake Waiau is in a, in a puka area that has, that is filled with water from an area that's only about 33 to 35 acres in size. They've done studies to correlate water levels up and down in the lake with the amount of snow melt and direct rainfall that come into it. So, we know that the source of water in the lake is just that local recharge and that 30 to -33- to 35 -acre area. They've also probed through the sediments at the bottom of the lake, and I went down pretty deep, but I can't remember exactly how deep, but essentially those sediments are silt that might have been blown in, but decayed organic matter. If you've been up to Lake Waiau, you know that the algae content in that lake is about as high as you'll ever see anywhere. I mean, it makes it, makes it pretty green. So, that that very thick, sedimentary bottom pretty much prevents leakage from the lake going, going down and ultimately becoming groundwater recharge. BUNN: Thank you. Would—would Pi`ilani's proposed pumping from the Mauna Kea lavas reduce the flow in any surface stream? NANCE: No, not to my knowledge. BUNN: And, I think you answered this before, but I just want to make sure. What happens to the water in the Mauna Kea lavas that is not used? NANCE: It it ultimately discharges in the ocean. In some locations, for example, the location we're talking about here, it's buried under Mauna Loa lavas to a thousand -foot depth or so. So, that discharge is going to be at depth off -shore very likely at a deeper depth then, then where it is on -shore. Where the lava, where the Mauna Kea lavas are exposed to the ground surface and no overlying caprock or other anomalies of geology, most of that discharge is along the shoreline, but there still may also be some discharge off -shore as well. BUNN: And, what would be the impact, if any, of reducing the amount of fresh water from the Mauna Loa lavas that discharges into the ocean at depth by approximately .2 mgd. NANCE: Okay, you said Mauna Loa. You mean Mauna Kea? BUNN: I'm sorry, thank you. I meant Mauna Kea. EXHIBIT D 12