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Water Supply presents watershed grant portfolio and post‑fire priorities to council committee
Summary
The Department of Water Supply briefed the ADEPT committee on FY25 watershed protection grants, describing nine grantees working in upper watershed areas, new focus on wildland‑urban interface measures and a shift to calendar‑year grant performance periods.
The Maui County Department of Water Supply told the ADEPT committee on Feb. 20 that the county’s watershed protection grant program is focused on invasive species control, revegetation, erosion control and monitoring in upper watershed areas and that several grantees are expanding work to address wildland‑urban interface (WUI) risks since the 2023 wildfires.
Robert deRobles, planner and grants manager for the Department of Water Supply, said grants are paid from water department operating funds and are awarded after an RFP and committee review. He listed FY25 grantees that include East Maui Watershed Partnership, The Nature Conservancy (Waikamoe), West Maui and Maunakea–Halawai watershed partnerships, Molokai and Molokini partnerships, the Maui Invasive Species Committee, and research projects with HARC focused on koa and ʻōhiʻa disease resistance.
DeRobles said the program’s core deliverables are invasive plant control, revegetation and planting, source‑water monitoring and research, and community outreach. The department has shifted performance periods to a January–December calendar year to improve timeliness and reporting. For FY25 the department said it awarded a suite of grants totaling several hundred thousand dollars per project (individual awards varied; one grantee decline left about $385,902 unallocated in FY25).
The department showed before‑and‑after photos of invasive‑plant control work and fence repairs that staff said have improved watershed condition in the West Maui and East Maui regions. Staff said several grantees are piloting biochar and post‑fire soil remediation projects to stabilize eroded slopes and reduce invasive species re‑establishment.
Committee members asked whether grants could expand downhill from traditional upper‑watershed areas to address sediment and erosion risks closer to diversions and drinking‑water intakes. Water Supply staff said many grants historically target areas above 3,000 feet but acknowledged WUI and lower‑slope impacts on recharge and stream health; they encouraged nonprofit groups working on lower elevations to apply for FY26 funds.
The committee received the briefing; no formal action was taken.
