Plumbing Victory On Maui More Meaningful Than It Might Seem

by Joe Kent

A new Maui law that directs the county’s Department of Water Supply to modernize its plumbing rules might seem like just a drop in the policy-making bucket, but it could wind up making a big splash for local homebuilding.

That’s because updating those regulations for the first time since 1995 will in many cases make building new homes and renovating existing ones — and even recovery from the August 2023 wildfires — easier and less costly.

I first learned of Maui County’s outdated plumbing rules in March of last year when I interviewed Maui entrepreneur Syd Smith, who owns Maliko Estate Coffee in Upcountry and is a member of the Maui County Council’s Agriculture Working Group.

Smith cautioned that the county’s plumbing regulations conflicted with new state and county measures aimed at boosting homebuilding through the addition of accessory dwelling units. The issue specifically concerned the county’s water-fixture rules.

See, it’s common, as Maui County does, for jurisdictions to assign a number, called a water-fixture unit, to water-using appliances such as sinks, toilets and washing machines based on how much water they are expected to use, and to regulate that usage through water meters.

But Maui County’s water-fixture unit calculations had become woefully outdated, and the associated fees are among the highest in the state.

For example, the Uniform Plumbing Code of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials assigns 1.5 fixture units to a dishwasher, whereas Maui County’s current score is 2. Meanwhile, the UPC gives dishwashers a lower score than toilets, but Maui County does the opposite.

The county’s current water-fixture-unit limit for 5/8-inch water meters — the most common size for Maui households — is 31; however, water-using appliances have become much more efficient over the past 30 years. The county does allow property owners to exceed the 31-unit limit, but up to only 42, and at a cost of $389 each.

To make matters worse, installing an additional 5/8-inch water meter under current rates costs $12,060, and $33,356 for a 1-inch meter.

And that’s not all. Regarding adding or upgrading water meters in Upcountry Maui in particular, Smith lamented to me that, “Everybody knows you’re probably going to die before you ever get to the top [of the wait list].”

Soon after my talk with Smith, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii researchers got to work digging deeper into her concerns and published a report in September titled “How fixes to Maui’s water-fixture policy could ease its housing crisis.”

The report called attention to how the county’s fixture-unit limits have increasingly become a burdensome and costly impediment for residents seeking to renovate or add dwellings to their properties — and shortly after it was released, Maui County Department of Water Supply Director John Stufflebean told Maui Now that the department was aware of the issue and would be proposing recommendations to the Council in a couple of months, calling it “a major effort.”

The following month, Councilmember Gabe Johnson of Maui’s Lanai district introduced Bill 146 (2024), titled “Amending the water code on the methodology for calculating domestic water demand,” which the full Council unanimously approved and Mayor Richard Bissen signed in January.

They say water takes the path of least resistance, and thankfully that seems to have been the case with this plumbing legislation.

It’s encouraging to see not only commonsense policies prevail, but how quickly lawmakers acted after being made aware of Maui County’s water-fixture woes — and be reminded that one small voice can make a big difference.

As mundane as water-fixture unit rules might seem, this is a homebuilding victory worth celebrating.

JOE KENT is executive vice president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.