Maggie T. Sutrov showered, drank treated tap water and watered her garden before she learned that she shouldn鈥檛 be using the water in her home on Maui after . Concerned about others making the same mistake, she quickly created a flier on water contamination from guidance she鈥檇 found on the county鈥檚 website and worked with a pop-up community center to get the word out.
鈥淓very day, people were showing up there going 鈥榃hat, I can鈥檛 drink the water? I didn鈥檛 know that,鈥欌�� Sutrov said. Three weeks after the fire, Sutrov and others are anxious to know when the island鈥檚 water will be safe.
鈥淲hen is this over?鈥� Sutrov wondered.
So far, tests have found no concerning levels of contaminants in the drinking water. But extensive testing is still needed, with access to most of Lahaina slowed by hazardous conditions and .
Some areas under the unsafe water advisory could be cleared to use their tap water in a couple of weeks, said John Stufflebean, director of the Maui County Department of Water Supply.
But experts and history suggest it could take months or years before the worst of the damaged areas have safe water fully restored.
鈥淲e have a way to go before we can say that it鈥檚 safe,鈥� Stufflebean said.
The county first told people in Upper Kula and Lahaina not to use their water on Aug. 11 shortly after fire damaged water pipes as it sped across the land. So far, one water quality test on the northwest edge of Lahaina showed low levels of benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer, but it was within federal safety limits.
That鈥檚 likely a clue to what more testing will find, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University professor following California鈥檚 2018 Camp Fire and Colorado鈥檚 2021 Marshall Fire.
鈥淎s you move closer to the middle of the water system where structures were destroyed, you鈥檒l likely see higher levels of contamination,鈥� he said.
Where homes and other structures burned, so did their interior pipes, along with shallow-buried exterior ones that connected them to the public water line, and the water meters, Stufflebean said. The utility鈥檚 networks of reservoirs, pumps, wells and treatment plants on Maui weren鈥檛 affected, and it鈥檚 unlikely that main lines 鈥� thick pipes buried more deeply 鈥� burned, he said.
鈥淲hat other places have found in fires is that the main lines tend not to get damaged because they are buried,鈥� he said.
That was the case in in the Camp Fire. Main lines buried several feet underground were OK, though water utility assistant district manager Mickey Rich said small sections were damaged when lost pressure sucked in smoke and contaminants. Seventeen miles of the town鈥檚 172 miles of main lines were contaminated and await replacement, and the city is still replacing service lines five years after the blaze.
Kurt Kowar, director of public works and utilities in Louisville, Colorado, said it took just a week to get parts of the water system there back online after the Marshall Fire. But in more severe burn areas, it took months to assess the damage, including where contamination had occurred, and flush it from the system. The city distributed bottled water and set up refill stations to hold residents over.
鈥淲e鈥檙e almost approaching our two-year mark. And as we鈥檝e cleaned up the properties and people are starting to rebuild, we are still doing protocols of testing service lines to verify there鈥檚 no contamination,鈥� he said.
Kowar just returned from a trip to Maui alongside othesr from Louisville and Paradise where they met with the Department of Water Supply to share knowledge about what to test for and how to decontaminate the system.
鈥淚t was very emotional to see all that again,鈥� he said of the damage. 鈥淚t was kind of healing to be able to give our knowledge back and help them move faster or give them an idea of what鈥檚 coming in the future.鈥�
Stufflebean鈥檚 department will soon expand the number of chemicals it鈥檚 testing for, he told a room packed with residents in Kula, a mountainside community about 24 miles from Lahaina, last week. The residents were told not to drink or bathe in their water until further testing is completed.
When Stufflebean mentioned that a map for the water advisory was on the department鈥檚 website, some frustration could be heard: 鈥淪ome people do not have internet,鈥� one person responded.
The county-run utility is stretched thin trying to restore the water system and doesn鈥檛 have a lot of time for outreach, said Chris Shuler, a hydrologist at the University of Hawaii at M膩noa, who lives on Maui. To try to fill the information gap, he鈥檚 part of a team from the university鈥檚 Water Resources Research Center that has set up a .
They offer free testing for 88 compounds to residents within the unsafe water advisory area.
鈥淧eople want to know what鈥檚 in their water, but at the same time they just want to have information and help them navigate through this difficult time,鈥� he said.
As with the county, the research center鈥檚 first round of results didn鈥檛 find concerning levels of contamination, but they鈥檝e only just begun. They have more than 200 requests for sampling. Any significant results would be reported to the county.
Sutrov was lucky. Her family鈥檚 home, where she was born and raised, survived the fire while some of her neighbors鈥� homes did not. Now, as the island community still reels in the traumatic aftermath, her patience for slow information is waning.
鈥淓veryone in whatever their role is is doing the best they can, but there are also distinct gaps that have been uncovered in this,鈥� Sutrov said.
Stufflebean acknowledged as much at the community water meeting she attended.
鈥淲e鈥檙e enhancing our communication, which has not been terrific, I admit,鈥� Stufflebean said.
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