§174C-44  Ground water criteria for
designation.  In designating an area for water use regulation, the
commission shall consider the following:



(1)  Whether an increase in water use or authorized
planned use may cause the maximum rate of withdrawal from the ground water
source to reach ninety per cent of the sustainable yield of the proposed ground
water management area;



(2)  There is an actual or threatened water quality
degradation as determined by the department of health;



(3)  Whether regulation is necessary to preserve the
diminishing ground water supply for future needs, as evidenced by excessively
declining ground water levels;



(4)  Whether the rates, times, spatial patterns, or
depths of existing withdrawals of ground water are endangering the stability or
optimum development of the ground water body due to upconing or encroachment of
salt water;



(5)  Whether the chloride contents of existing wells
are increasing to levels which materially reduce the value of their existing
uses;



(6)  Whether excessive preventable waste of ground
water is occurring;



(7)  Serious disputes respecting the use of ground
water resources are occurring; or



(8)  Whether water development projects that have
received any federal, state, or county approval may result, in the opinion of
the commission, in one of the above conditions.



Notwithstanding an imminent designation of a
ground water management area conditioned on a rise in the rate of ground water
withdrawal to a level of ninety per cent of the area's sustainable yield, the
commission, when such level reaches the eighty per cent level of the
sustainable yield, may invite the participation of water users in the affected
area to an informational hearing for the purposes of assessing the ground water
situation and devising mitigative measures. [L 1987, c 45, pt of §2; am L 1999,
c 197, §6]



 



Case Notes



 



  Commission did not err in regulating the Waiahole Ditch
infrastructure as a unified system as independent designation of water
management areas does not preclude consolidated regulation where a water
delivery system draws water from several different water management areas and
the consolidated regulation of a single diversion works comports entirely with
the commission's function of comprehensive water planning and management.  94
H. 97, 9 P.3d 409.



  Given the undisputed direct interrelationship between the
surface and ground waters in the Waiahole Ditch case, the designation of
Windward Oahu as a ground water management area subjects both ground and
surface water diversions from the designated area to the statutory permit
requirement.  94 H. 97, 9 P.3d 409.