The County of Maui is facing a wastewater discharge problem because of their use of nearshore injection wells as a method of municipal wastewater disposal.  What we need is private funding and Maui County government team up to realize the idea of a MAUI COUNTY MUNICIPAL REUSE PARK Program with 325 acres of reuse irrigation in Lahaina, 225 acres in Kihei and 600 acres in Kahului.

To achieve this, we need several key elements:

1.  Utilize the legal structure provided by the Memorandum of Agreement "MOA" process in cooperation with the Mayor, Corporation Council, and the DEM and some amazing private philanthropist who has pledged to make a $123M one-time grant to the County of Maui to implement 100% reuse in a short timescale.  This will be enabled by the financial mechanism of an established For Benefit Of or "FBO" account in place with a prominent local marine resource nonprofit organization, to make the entire gift tax-deductible. A vote by the County Council to accept the funding will enable the new Department of Agriculture to administer the County of Maui Municipal Reuse Park program.  It will be a highly vetted gift.

2.  With the grant, the new Department of Agriculture will be enabled to:

o   Secure 50-year leases on the hundreds of acres of land needed to receive 10+ MGD of reuse water, or purchase the land through eminent domain   [2018 Hawaii Revised Statutes TITLE 9. PUBLIC PROPERTY, PURCHASING AND CONTRACTING 101. Eminent Domain]                     ($14M)

o   Implement "R-1" upgrades at Kahului for disinfection to get water up to reuse standards, install plumbing and pump stations to convey water from the plant to the new Reuse Parks      ($30M)

o   Install turf scrubbers or better nutrient removal process to mitigate nutrient pollution in reuse water to make long term irrigation sustainable.                                                                          ($17M)

o   Install additional UV disinfection process at the inlet to each Reuse Park, so it's "better than R1" as in a fecal coliform result that meets the drinking water standard of 0 cells / 100mL (Kihei saw 2 /100mL in August 2020).  Maybe we can invent a new reuse standard, Maui "R-0" ?        ($3M)

o   Purchase all the reuse water that would be injected for 10 years from the County            ($11M)

o   Task the new Department of Agriculture to administer $1 leases and grants to reuse projects, like local farmers, permaculture , and a vetiver expert to stabilize the Reuse Park landscape in downslope areas, so that entrepreneurs can create living systems to receive the water.  Including design, installing the irrigation hardware, plantings, soil/matrix amendment and landscaping approximately 1150 acres:     325 Lahaina, 225 Kihei and 600 Kahului                                      ($45M)

o   1 year of operations including power                                                                                            ($3M)

Out of this new Program we will get restored reefs to enhance food security by restoring fish populations, and also increase food supply from the County Reuse Park agroforest food production, enabled by vetiver slope stabilization.  We will also have a lot of employed farmers, significant atmospheric carbon fixation through forest growth, and end up with the most famous municipal wastewater disposal system in the world.  100% reuse with "Maui R0" a new reuse standard the meets coliform limits for drinking water.  Mahalo!