By EDWIN TANJI City Editor
The Maui News
July 6, 2008
Cane fields looked parched along Hana Highway near the intersection with Hansen Road on Saturday. Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. has said it will suspend planting through July because of inadequate surface water supplies. The Wailoa Ditch, East Maui Irrigation’s largest irrigation ditch, was running at just 8 percent of capacity last week. The county’s Upcountry reservoirs were also low.
Fact Box
AVERAGE DAILY WATER USE
DistrictJune 26-July 2June 19-25June 2007
Central Maui25.96 mgd25.85 mgd28.38 mgd
Upcountry8.61 mgd8.11 mgd10.25 mgd
Lahaina6.44 mgd6.68 mgd6.47 mgd
Hana0.36 mgd0.37 mgd0.34 mgd
Molokai1.41 mgd1.4 mgd1.51 mgd
Total42.78 mgd42.41 mgd46.95 mgd
WAILUKU - Water use around Maui County remained stable at the start of July, but the continuing drought conditions sharply cut into water flows out of the East Maui watershed.
The Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. said it had suspended replanting through July 14 with a hope that weather conditions will improve but said it may only be able to plant fields that can be supplied with well water.
"All planting and field preparation operations are affected," said Garret Hew, manager of water resources for the sugar plantation. "We're hoping the ditch flows will be restored. But if not, we're hoping we will have fields available for planting that can be irrigated with pump water."...
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Flows in the Wailoa Ditch, which has a capacity of nearly 200 million gallons a day, were running between
