Department of Land and Natural Resources

The state’s Kanahā Pond Wildlife Sanctuary’s dry look is a temporary one. The 22-year-old pump that keeps the Maui ponds lush and full needs a new part. Mechanics should be able to get things flowing again soon.

In dry times, brackish water fish can move out through the pond’s connections to the ocean. Flying residents often move to other wetland areas including lawns and parks, or even over to Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

Kanaha Pond’s brackish water has always come from unseen waters flowing underground, supplied from four different moku (regions) on Maui. On an average sunny day, about one-half million gallons (or about 1% of the total volume) evaporates from the pond, though it didn’t always need a pump.

Much of Kahului was once a marshy wetland, and the basis for creating fish ponds some 500 years ago. Materials from dredging to create Kahului Harbor blocked those early fishponds. Then draining (via canals) and filling to make the industrial areas of town changed flow patterns again. In WWII the military made even more land-engineering changes. The needs of the birds finally took center-stage when the Territorial Government proposed making the first Wildlife Sanctuary in the islands. All these changes mean pumping water from below is sometimes necessary to keep levels ideal for the birds and the Kanahā Pond we drive past today.