Opinion ID: 2629221
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Interference with DHHL's rights

Text: HRS § 174C-49(a)(7) directs that the applicant establish that the proposed use of water ... [w]ill not interfere with the rights of [DHHL] as provided in [HHCA § 221]. See supra note 1. The Commission expressly rejected two arguments that DHHL asserted with respect to the impact of MR-Wai'ola's proposed water use on DHHL's rights under the HHCA. First, the Commission disagreed that the proposed use would interfere with DHHL's existing wells located in the Kualapu'u aquifer system and noted that DHHL's contentions appeared to be significantly undermined by its plan to file an application for a water use permit to pump an additional 0.905 mgd from the same well that it vehemently maintained would be significantly affected by the proposed well located three miles away from DHHL's well in Kualapu'u. The Commission opined that [a]dditional pumping from DHHL's own well in Kualapu'u would have a much greater impact on the Kualapu'u Aquifer System and the DHHL well than the proposed well. Second, the Commission dismissed DHHL's assertion that the proposed well would render it impossible for DHHL to utilize its full allocation in Kualapu'u because it would be unable to drill a well on the borderline between the Kualapu'u and Kamiloloa aquifer systems. The Commission concluded that [t]here was no evidence presented that DHHL intended ever to place a well at that location or had any current or foreseeable funding to do so and that, therefore, the evidence was too speculative and not credible to establish that this proposed use will leave DHHL unable to fully utilize its current reservation in the Kualapu'u Aquifer. Based on the foregoing reasoning, the Commission ultimately ruled that MR-Wai`ola had satisfied its burden under HRS § 174C-49(a) to obtain a water use permit for 655,928 gpd in the Kamiloloa aquifer system.