Peter Martin spent decades guzzling water around Lāhainā. Then came the fire.

Most people in West Maui get water from the county’s public water system. But Martin-built developments such as Launiupoko, a community of a few hundred large homes outside of Lāhainā, draw their water from three private utility systems that he controls, siphoning underground aquifers and mountain streams to fill swimming pools and irrigate lawns. More than half of all water used in the Launiupoko subdivision, or around 1.5 million gallons a day, goes toward cosmetic landscaping on lawns, according to state estimates. Just over a quarter is used for drinking and cooking.

The scale of this water usage is stunning: According to state data, Launiupoko Irrigation Company and Launiupoko Water Company deliver a combined average of 5,750 gallons of water daily to each residential customer in Launiupoko, or almost 20 times as much as the average American home. The development has just a few hundred residents, but it uses almost half as much water as the public water system in Lāhainā, which serves 18,000 customers.

  • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    The area is basically a desert with little to no rain, so an egregious amount of water is used just to water lawns every day. Etc.

    Meanwhile natives nearby have to call in water trucks to fill catchment tanks.

      • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        There’s still some problems, but it’s slowly getting much better (relatively speaking) after a certain crew got voted out. Unfortunately there’s a lot of long-term bullshit from arrangements made in past administrations, that may or may not get corrected over time. Part of why the Lahaina fire was so bad was because of some gatekeeping and decision making by some of these same people who shouldn’t have that kind of power over water resources during emergencies, or ever. Just needed to turn it on to fill tanks and had to wait for bureaucracy while things are burning, then couldn’t get to the release valves because fire was blocking access to it. Just stupid.

          • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
            4·
            1 year ago

            Very much so, and thank you. I was spared all the direct trauma because I don’t live on that side, but it’s still hard knowing some friends are gone forever, and others are trying to rebuild something with what help we can manage while all the official action takes place in the burn zone. I don’t even keep up with local news right now because it’s all stressful and there’s little to nothing I can do about most of it, and the comments are filled with conspiracy idiots pushing ridiculous theories that have zero evidence, just really questionable nonsense. There are plenty of legitimate concerns without branching into Jewish space laser territory, but here we are. The aloha here was already at an all time low after the pandemic and now it’s just… idk. If only the water flowed as well as the projection and insanity. I hoped people were better than this.