Introduction

AQUIFER IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION FOR KAUA’I: Groundwater Protection Strategy for Hawaii

AQUIFER IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION FOR KAUA’I: Groundwater Protection Strategy for Hawaii

Technical Report No. 186
AQUIFER IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION FOR KAUA’I: Groundwater Protection Strategy for Hawaii

John F. Mink and L. Stephen Lau
September 1992

ABSTRACT
In response to the need to identify and describe aquifers for each island of the state of Hawaii to serve as a framework for groundwater protection strategy, a program has been initiated to classify and assign codes to the principal aquifers of the state. This third report provides Aquifer Codes and Status Codes for the island of Kaua’i. The Aquifer Codes incorporate locational and descriptive indices, while the Status codes indicate the developability, utility, quality, uniqueness, and vulnerability to contamination of the goundwater resources. The codes were generated for Hawaiian conditions of goundwater occurrence and behavior in preference to using the DRASTIC approach suggested by the U.S. EPA. Each Aquifer Type within an Aquifer System is assigned an Aquifer Code consisting of an eight-digit number. An Aquifer Code is unique and non-repeatable in the state. Accompanying the Aquifer Code is a Status Code of five digits. A Status code is specific to an Aquifer Code. The Kaua’i classification includes 3 Aquifer Sectors, 13 Aquifer Systems, and 77 Aquifer Codes.