The Halama Wetlands are part of the greater Welakahao wetland, fed by the Kēōkea Gulch and Kula Kai aquifer. The Halama wetland is located in the Moku of Kula, Kīhei, in the watershed of Hapapapa, and the Ahupuaʻa of Kēōkea.
It sits within the Kēōkea Gulch, and this wetland has no overland outlet at the present time. This wetland is located on the Kīhei floodplain and shares the aquifer with multiple wetlands. It is part of a larger group of wetlands that include Lāʻie-makai, Lāʻie-mauka, and Welakahao.
This site is an example of a cryptorheic wetland: Joined by an underground nexus of springs, this site has permanent “perennial” water as well as extensive underground water in saturated hydrologic soils. This wetland has a very low elevation, just a few feet above sea level, and has water at and just below the surface. Soil pits at the site consistently show the presence of groundwater. Here, freshwater migrating toward the ocean meets with saltier water to form a brackish water nexus.
The Halama Wetlands are separated from the ocean by a sand dune system. Instead of flowing directly out to sea, floodwater from Kīhei and Kēōkea Gulch collects, slows, soaks into the ground, and percolates into the aquifer. This restricted underground drainage is part of what makes the wetland cryptorheic.
Because the wetland has no present overland outlet, its capacity is restricted volumetrically. It can only hold, absorb, and transmit so much water through the soil and aquifer system. Encroachment, filling, grading, or development within this wetland area can reduce that capacity and increase flood risk for the surrounding Kīhei floodplain.
For this reason, the Halama Wetlands are not vacant land. They are part of Kīhei’s natural floodwater infrastructure and part of a larger wetland and aquifer system that should be protected from further encroachment.
