Public Meeting on Instream Flows for Wailua, Waikoko Streams Tomorrow

The staff of the Commission on Water Resource Management will be holding a public fact-gathering meeting to receive testimony and any additional information to be compiled as part of an Instream Flow Standard Assessment Report, according a news release by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

This report will serve as the primary reference of best available information for subsequent amendments to the interim instream flow standards for the surface water hydrologic unit of Wailua (2040) — Waikoko and North Fork Wailua streams, on Kaua‘i.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 21 at Kaua‘i Community College, Performing Arts Center Theater at 3-1901 Kaumuali‘i Highway in Līhu‘e.

A public review draft of each of the Instream Flow Standard Assessment reports for Wailua available online at http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/cwrm/surfacewater/ifs/wailua_ifs/.

The public review drafts may also be reviewed at the commission office at the Kalanimoku Building, Room 227, 1151 Punchbowl Street in Honolulu.

All interested persons are urged to attend the public fact-gathering meeting and submit comments, orally or in writing. The commission will continue to accept written testimony until July 13.

Testimony may be submitted as follows:

By mail: Commission on Water Resource Management, State Department of Land and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 621, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96809.

Facsimile: (808) 587-0219
E-mail to: dlnr.cwrm@hawaii.gov

Also, disabled individuals planning to attend the public hearing are asked to contact the Commission at the above address or phone (808) 587-0214 at least three days in advance of the public hearing to indicate if they have special needs that require accommodation.

The meeting is being conducted in accordance with a modified interim instream flow standard process approved by the commission at its Dec. 13, 2006 meeting. The modified process includes an agency review/public fact gathering component not required by statute, and is consistent with Part VI (Instream Uses of Water) of the State Water Code, Chapter 174C, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, and Title 13, Chapter 169 (Protection of Instream Uses of Water), Hawai‘i Administrative Rules.