HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0494.004 2020-2022 l
From: Janice Glennie
Sent: Monday, November 1 S, 2021 9:32 PM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Comm 494 and 494.1 County Committee on Climate Resilience and Natural Resource
Management,
Aloha Chair Villegas, Vice Chair Kimball, and members of the County Committee on Climate Resilience and Natural
Resource Management,
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony on the Water Use and Development Plan Update for the Keauhou
Aquifer System Area on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation's Kona Kai Ea chapter. In past state hearings and
discussions, our group was disappointed that the State declined to protect the Keauhou aquifer through designation.
The good news was that the County promised that if designation didn't occur, it would monitor wells as well as
intercede when necessary to protect our most crucial and life-sustaining natural resource. We were hopeful to hear
that a commitment was being made to design and implement meaningful, well-planned, and consistent monitoring of
County wells since those actions are necessary to insure that our aquifer and near-shore resources are not harmed or
even destroyed. Unfortunately, despite that promise, it appears that the design and implementation of such a
program hasn't gotten off the ground.
Connected ecosystems in our region depend upon the existence and movement of clean, plentiful, fresh water, and our
group's members depend upon that same water supply for sustenance, subsistence and recreational activities. How
can the protection of the aquifer and nearshore resources be assured, including knowing that water use won't impact
ecosystems, if there's no monitoring and recording of water levels in the Keauhou aquifer? Groundwater pumping at
levels well below the so called "sustainable yield" can result in the loss or degradation groundwater dependant
ecosystems. The resources that this department's groundwater monitoring program accomplishes (or doesn't) plays a
crucial role in protecting coastal fishponds, wetlands and spring-fed pools, and native flora and fauna and the valuable
services they collectively provide to the people of Hawaii, including our members.
For these reasons and the many others that have been presented here and to the State by the public, the National Park
Service and other experts and stakeholders, we ask that CWRM develop a truly sustainable groundwater management
policy that protects groundwater dependent ecosystems posthaste so that historically, culturally, recreationally, and
subsistence significant water resources of the Keauhou aquifer are protected for current and future generations before
it's too late.
Janice.]''alma- le.nnie
ror jurfride,r I-ouncJation's Kona Kai F.11 chaFter
Kailua-Kona,Hawai'i 9 745
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