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Officials to address Kula water safety at upcoming town hall

In upcountry Maui, the Kula fire destroyed numerous area homes. Maui County firefighters were still on the scene Friday night.
Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR
In upcountry Maui, the Kula fire destroyed numerous area homes. Maui County firefighters were still on the scene Friday night.

Officials from the Maui County Department of Water Supply will attend a town hall meeting Thursday in Kula to answer Upcountry residents' questions about safe water usage.

Parts of Upper Kula are still under an unsafe water advisory this week as a result of the ongoing fires. The county is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to test if the water is safe for residents to drink.

Maui County Councilmember Yuki Lei Sugimura represents Upcountry. She decided to call the town hall after an outpouring of confusion from her constituents about whether their water was safe.

"There's a level of distrust as to what is the correct information. And every day I was receiving questions and receiving emails, phone calls from my constituents saying, 'Can I drink water or not?'" Sugimura said.

"And I finally decided what we need to do is ask the Department of Water Supply, the director John Stufflebean, to come before the community and answer questions that they have."

State Sen. Lynn DeCoite, state Rep. Kyle Yamashita and Councilmember Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins will also participate in the town hall.

The meeting will take place at the Von Tempsky Community Center at 6:30 p.m. More information can be found here.

Savannah Harriman-Pote is the energy and climate change reporter. She is also the lead producer of HPR's "This Is Our Hawaiʻi" podcast. Contact her at sharrimanpote@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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