Water service for Maui real estate

Water on Maui

When purchasing Maui real estate, it is important to know if there is water service available to the property. Most of Maui has County of Maui service available, but currently many upcountry residents have been waiting for years for water meters. Some areas in the rural communities don't have service available, some options for these areas are catchment tanks or a well. Anytime a home is built on Maui, the Dept of Water supply requires the home to have water. (either private of County) so likely if you are searching for a home in Maui that is already built, the home will have preexisting water service.

When talking water, Maui county is divided into 5 districts, Upcountry, which includes Kula, Pukalani, Makawao and Haiku. Central Maui's water system includes Kihei, Wailuku, Kahului and Paia. West Maui including Lahaina, to Kapalua and all the communities in between, Hana and Molokai. Lanai is served by a private water system.

Upcountry's water comes mostly from surface water collected at Wailoa Ditch, Waikamoi Reservoir, Kahakapao Reservoir, Piiholo Reservoir, with some coming from a few wells in the area, Kaupakalua Well, Haiku Well and Po'okela Well. Being that Upcountry is a geographically large area, Upcountry residents are often asked to conserve water through the dryer summer months as the water levels sometimes dwindle to alarming levels.

Central Maui's water comes from the Iao Aquifer and the Waihee Aquifer, both located on the West Maui mountains. In recent years as demand for water has increased with the population growth and the large hotels and golf courses being developed in south Maui, the Iao Aquifer has seen lower levels of water. This summer (2008) South Maui residents are being asked to conserve water.

West Maui's water comes from Honolua, Honokowai, Launiupoko, Olowalu and Ukumehame aquifer systems.

Molokai water service has been provided by the Molokai Properties Limited. On May 30, 2008, the company's CEO informed the Public Utilities Commission that they could no longer provide this service to the island, soon thereafter, the PUC released a statement ordering Molokai Properties not to abandon service. Since then, there have been many ideas about how to keep the water flowing on Molokai including Maui County Water Supply taking over the Molokai system.

Maui County Water Department is looking into developing alternative sources of drinking water.

For the fiscial year of 2009 water charges are as follows for Maui: