Wastewater a good source for irrigating landscaping
With the recent declaration of Maui County as a federal drought disaster area and the reduction of sugar cane operations, we can no longer wait to build the pipelines that will allow our reclaimed water to be used in irrigating sugar cane.
With water use per hookup estimated at 500 gallons a day for the Haiku and Upcountry areas and 2,000 gallons a day for West and South Maui, appearances would indicate that our drier regions are using more potable water for irrigation.
In addition, the South Maui Wastewater Treatment Plant estimates that only 40 percent of the water used is going back into the sewage system. Yet instead of reusing our wastewater, we spend money and energy injecting it into ground wells. This nutrient-rich water then seeps into the ocean and may be responsible for some of our algae blooms.
Not only can we use our reclaimed water instead of spending money to inject it, but we can let our residents use it to irrigate their yards along with gray water from sinks and showers.
For every gallon of reclaimed water we use, we free a gallon of drinking water for our residents. We can substantially increase our supply if we stop wasting our reclaimed water and gray water. Please consider voting for me for County Council so we can get started on these solutions to our water shortage.
Kai Nishiki
Haiku
Aug 12, 2008