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Aloha,
Recently there was an article in the Maui News on the Council’s consideration of imposing a 2 day a week restriction on Landscape irrigation. I truly believe this will have a negative effect, not just on tourism and property values, but on the whole conservation mindset. By imposing a restriction you lose the incentive for anyone to develop a long range conservation plan, to truly change their habits and beliefs.

Unfortunately, as discussed at a water conservation seminar last year on Maui, most conservation programs go after the minority, as does this one…”the ordinance is primarily aimed at landowners who use automated irrigation systems, especially those in dry areas who try to make their landscape look lushly green and tropical”. It was also noted at the seminar that water conservation is not curtailment. And consider the fact that individuals and businesses will be asked to sacrifice by reducing usage and “making it so painful that people will shift towards landscaping appropriate for a dry area”. Is this Arizona or Maui? Once this is done there will be a serious drop in revenue and water rates will be raised…as a reward for everyone’s efforts. Long-term steady conservation efforts are easier on revenues than drastic short-term curtailment.

For example, in Wailea we have recently begun implementing our new strategic plan which includes many conservation measures for the County property that we maintain and for the hotel, commercial, and 21 residential communities under our umbrella. Some of the measures already underway are:

We had previous to this news cut our watering on all medians, parks, and entry features to 4 days a week, and depending on the area, only 6 or 16 minutes a day. This, along with hardware changes to the entire system, has significantly reduced our usage over the past couple years.

Prior to making other changes we have scheduled a firm to conduct an audit of our existing systems and plant usage.

We have personnel being trained to assist our many residential associations with analyzing landscaping and irrigation use. We believe such a program will eventually teach owners how to save money and significantly conserve (motivation).

We are investigating the use of alternatives to water hungry grass in medians and will be conducting a test soon.

Our Strategic Plan has a goal of getting the entire community involved in the conservation of water and energy, and many of you may have already begun programs.

We have been working with the Wailea hotels and commercial entities towards these goals and, again, many have begun planning or implementing changes in landscape and energy use.

We have already established new design rules to reduce water usage by changing landscaping requirements and are in the process of updating to further reduce usage.

On a related front, three commercial properties already in the plans for Wailea will utilize Photovoltaic panels to provide energy for their projects.

These are just the beginning of the efforts we, as a community, are putting forth to implement far reaching conservation goals while striving to maintain the Wailea Resort as a viable destination and preserve property values. Do guests expect this or any island resort to look like Arizona or Maui?

I also believe that the County must not fall to the pressure of special interest groups when seeking new sources of water or when private entities offer to improve the systems in place. We must not allow the “fear” of development dictate how we maintain our quality of life now!

We must all do our part to control our own destiny in this resort. I urge all of you to look at how you can make a difference. If you would like ideas on how to conserve water and reduce you water bill, please contact us. For more information see our website.

Mahalo,