Challenges

West Maui’s communities face growing challenges in managing limited water resources amid changing climate conditions, outdated infrastructure, and gaps in coordination between public and private water systems. To address these needs, water managers, policymakers, and the community need more reliable data that is easy to find and use, so they can make informed decisions, improve accountability, hold stakeholders accountable, and plan for the restoration and recharge of the region’s watersheds and ahupua‘a system.

Here we propose to develop a West Maui focused Water Budget and Flow Assessment, which will inform an online Wai Dashboard. The project will provide a comprehensive, accessible source of dynamic, up-to-date, and well-validated information on well pumping, stream diversions and flows, water audits, use by sector, metering data, water quality results, reuse volumes, and rainfall and runoff to support a comprehensive picture of water supply, use, and watershed health. This proposed project will be aligned with the corollary project: The West Maui Water Management Plan’s goals for resilient, integrated systems and community benefit, and will help bridge information gaps, foster trust among stakeholders, and support long-term strategies for sustainable water use and climate resilience.

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Approach

Data Collection and Compilation

We will identify and inventory all relevant data sources needed for the Water Budget and Flow Assessment including:

• Public agency datasets, such as Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) well pumping reports, surface water diversion logs, water use permit applications, and water audits from the Hawai‘i Water Audit and Validation Effort program.
• County of Maui Department of Water Supply records, including metering data, billing information, and service area maps.
• Private water purveyor reports for systems such as Kaanapali, Kapalua, and other privately managed networks.
• Community-managed ditch network records and operational logs where available.
• Supporting datasets to provide context, including rainfall and runoff records, wastewater discharge permits, and reuse water volumes.

Additionally, we will prioritize securing necessary permissions or data-sharing agreements for datasets to ensure transparency and ongoing community access. To validate the data, we will review all raw datasets for consistency, identify any gaps or errors, and cross-check values across sources to catch discrepancies, for example, comparing reported pumping volumes with metering and billing records. Because data will invariably come in many formats, standardization is needed to keep deliverables comparable. We will standardize units of measurement, align time steps such as monthly or annual reporting, and standardize systems of spatial references like TMK numbers, use points, or aquifer sectors.  Throughout this process, we will document all metadata and note any limitations or assumptions used during cleaning and validation. 

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Water Budget and Flow Assessment Development

The compiled data will be analyzed and integrated to produce a detailed accounting of total water supply availability from all known sources in West Maui, drawing from precipitation, groundwater recharge, well extraction, and stream diversions. Use will be discretized across different use locations as well as use types/sectors such as agriculture, domestic, municipal, industrial, and reuse to show where and how water is consumed. A gap analysis will be performed on both the supply and use components to identify where additional metering or data collection would be beneficial. We will map distribution system networks, including public and private delivery lines, ditch systems, metering points, natural water courses, and known losses, to understand flows, leaks, and net balances across the region. Where feasible, we will also account for reuse and return flows to capture the full cycle within the water budget. Using innovative data visualizations, a report will summarize this information in ways that make water movement from source to end use clear and understandable for non-technical users. Throughout this process, we will consult with stakeholders to review draft findings, identify gaps, and refine assumptions. The completed analysis will result in a final integrated Water Budget and Flow Assessment that forms the core content and data catalog for application in the interactive Wai Dashboard site. 

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Dashboard Design, Build, and Launch

Building on the Water Budget and Flow Assessment, we will design and develop an online Wai Dashboard that makes this information clear, interactive, and usable for the community, water managers, and policymakers. The design of the web tool will be 100% informed by user requirements gathered during the project through engagement with local stakeholders to ensure it meets real-world needs. We will select user-friendly software tools that support dynamic data visualizations, interactive maps, filtering by location, sector, or time period, and easy data downloads. The dashboard will include clear explanations and guidance to help non-technical users interpret and apply the information. We will test early versions of the dashboard with diverse user groups and refine its features based on feedback. Once finalized, the dashboard will be deployed on a stable platform with reliable hosting and a simple maintenance plan to keep data up to date over time. Basic user instructions and training materials will be provided to help the community, managers, and decision-makers fully use the system. It is understandable if the tool description above appears vague, however the project team has significant experience with developing and continually maintaining existing web-apps, dashboards, and decision support tools such as the Hawaii Cesspool Tool, the Hawaii Climate Data Portal, and the American Samoa Water Use Dashboard. From this experience the team understands that the selection of software platform, long-term hosting space, and tool design must be informed directly through rigorous stakeholder engagement, which itself is a significant portion of the project plan.  Therefore, the selection of these critical aspects of the project will be made once user feedback makes it clear how to optimize the usability and longevity of the tool. 

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Team Members 

Principal Investigator (PI): Chris Shuler, University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center

Co-PIs: Remy Romo-Valdez: University of Hawaii Maui College, Hulihia Kirsten Oleson:  University of Hawaii Natural Resources and Environmental Management 

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Full list of current participants:

• University of Hawaiʻi
  
  • Manoa - Water Resources Research Center, Maui Research Hub, Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS), additional researchers
  • UHMC – Hulihia
• County of Maui – ʻŌiwi Resources
• Lahaina Community Land Trust
• Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM)
• Hawaiʻi Community Foundation – Hawaiian Islands Environmental Finance Center / Fresh Water Initiative
• Ulupono Initiative
• One World One Water