HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0620.010 2022-2024 p/Counci[
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From: ChrisandKim Salinas
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2023 3:44 PM p
To: Council Testimony
Cc: Inaba, Holeka;Villegas, Rebecca
Subject: Written Testimony re: Resolution 372-23 `", '=
4-0
Aloha Chair Kimball and members of the Hawaii County Council,
My name is Kimberly Crawford, I was born and raised in the Ahupua'a of Kalaoa where I still reside and railer myfour
children.
I am a mother of four and a Kia'i loko(fishpond guardian)of Kaloko loko i'a (Kaloko fishpond) in the ahupua'a just North
of Honokohau.
I am writing to you today to urge you to reject the funds requested by the mayor to hire outside counsel to fight Hui
Malama Honokohau v. County of Hawai'i and instead approve the restricted use of the funds for the sole purpose of
hiring outside counsel to negotiate a settlement with Hui Malama Honokohau.
Our loko i'a is a loko Kuapa that relies on high quality and quantity ground water to provide the estuary with an
abundance of microbes, diatoms, limu, and other microscopic life.These beings are the very beginning of the food chain
that feeds the herbivores, and omnivores that we cultivate in our loko Pa. Many of these fish spend most of their life in
the loko i'a only returning to the ocean to spawn and are then called back into the loko by the sweet fresh water that
exchanges through out'au wai (channel opening in the Kuapa wall)when the fish from our loko spawn,those larvae
feed the pelagics including the whales,the Ahi, Mahi,ono and the many other fish in the open ocean.
When we break the food chain at the very beginning by taking away or polluting the sweet ground water that feeds the
loko we are putting strain on the entire cycle of life for the many creatures of the ocean and the harm we are creating is
amplified beyond just the near shore.
I am urging you to instead settle litigation and upgrade the WWTP to be able to treat and reuse the sewage that is
already coming to the plant but also be able to treat the anticipated increase in demand that is coming in the future with
a ban on cesspools coming and an increase in development required to be connected to the WWTP.We need to take
proactive measures now to protect out resources for the future generations.
Mahalo,
Kimberly Crawford
808-557-1873
73-1167 Loloa dr.
Kailua Kona Hi
96740
Comm. I o 0.
Ref. To: ) !VI all
i Ref. Date :EC m 6 2023