Water nerds rejoice! There’s a new sheriff in town and her name is Marina Starleaf Riker. She joined Honolulu Civil Beat in February as its first full-time Maui-based reporter. The Maui native has hit the ground running with stories covering all sorts of local issues, from the Kihei roundabout ruckus to the growing number of pets left homeless as renters are forced from their homes. Her latest foray is into West Maui’s current water woes, which she masterfully explains in two stories: here and here. I won’t even bother to paraphrase, because these are must-reads. Her addition to the ranks of those of us who are deluged with water stories–and others–is welcome and needed in our county’s shrunken media environment.
And while I’m tossing bouquets to local reporters, I’m sending another one out to Maui Now‘s Kehaulani Cerizo (another native Mauian) for her excellent reporting on the County Council’s debate over member Kelly King’s proposal to include funding in next year’s budget for a new wastewater system in Māʻalaea. It would replace the leaking injection wells that are polluting the coastline and damaging reefs. Cerizo gave ample space to the dubiously accurate and environmentally tone-deaf remarks made by Maui County Deputy Corporation Counsel Richelle Thomson, who urged the Council to bail on the whole idea Tuesday. I think it was blowback on those remarks that led the Council–which previously had been split– subsequently to vote unanimously Thursday (see Cerizo’s follow-up here) to amend the budget and include the funding. Cerizo’s story also provides a good history of injection wells in Maui County. Plus, she gets my vote for Quote of the Week from local resident Peter Cannon: “We’re swimming in doo doo soup.”
