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

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NANCE: Piezometric head is basically that level to which the artesian water level would rise. We express it as a feet above sea level. BUNN: Okay. One of the things you say in your memo, and it was in response to one of the concerns raised at the December 6' meeting was, and I'm quoting, "Due to the higher piezometric head in the fresh artesian aquifer than in the overlying saline groundwater, there is no possibility that the saline groundwater will move downward and enter [into] the fresh artesian aquifer." Can, and I think it's what you've been explaining. I just want to make clear. Explain why it's impossible for the overlying salt water to move down into the fresh water. NANCE: The salt water basically has a level at sea level, whereas this thing is possibility 20 feet above sea level, so it's going to be forcing water out of the borehole into the formation rather than the reverse. BUNN: And, can you think of any circumstances under which salt water could contaminate the underlying freshwater in the Mauna Kea lavas where Pi`ilani is planning to drill? NANCE: As I say, when we're open borehole, we're flowing up, let's say the well got finished and now we're sealed off from the salt water above and for whatever reason somebody decided to pump 40 million gallons a day rather than a 100 gallons a minute, grossly over -pumping in that location, in that case, we might pull the salt water up from the bottom as a result. We're not designing the well, we're not going to actually be [inaudible] impossible to do. BUNN: And, can you quantify please what you mean by grossly over -pumping in, relative to the plant pumping which is .2 mgd? NANCE: You know, tens of millions of gallons a day. BUNN: Now, we were talking about the possibility of salt water contaminating the underlying fresh water. What about the reverse? Is it possible that the underlying fresh water could contaminate the overlying Mauna Loa Aquifer? NANCE: Well, contaminate is probably the wrong word because we think of this as a much higher quality water than what the salt water and brackish water that exists up here, so—it's going to flow into it. You can call it contaminate it, but I would call it improving it. BUNN: Okay, and again, that flow is temporary NANCE: —Right BUNN: just until the casing is installed NANCE: until it gets sealed off, yeah. CLARKSON: Can I ask a question? What is the possibility that the barrier, the cap soil is a hundred percent continuous over the entire Mauna Kea Aquifer? Isn't it likely that periodically EXHIBIT D 16