Fixing the dam problems
Cover
The Kaloko Dam break last March 14 did more than kill seven people, destroy homes, erase historical sites and cover miles of north shore Kaua’i reef with mud, trees and other debris.
It also jolted state lawmakers into reality, forcing them to finally begin taking a serious look at an antique system of reservoirs, dams and ditches that is both a ticking time bomb and an enduring remnant of an era in which the interests of the plantations, not the public or nature, reigned supreme.
Lawmakers, farmers, large landowners, environmentalists, community groups and government agencies have long been aware of the problems and issues bound up in Hawai’i’s plantation-built irrigation system. But the urgency of addressing the matter has been underscored by the Kaua’i dam break, Big Island earthquake, ongoing litigation over water rights and a new report detailing the findings of an independent investigation into the Kaloko incident.
At stake is an extensive water-storage-and-supply system that many see as key to the future of farming, land development, native ecosystems and cultural practices in the Islands. And how it’s handled, they say, will determine who controls Hawai’i’s abundant fresh water, and thus the quality of life for generations to come.
‘Kaloko is a good case study for all these irrigation systems,’ says state Rep. Hermina ‘Mina’ Morita, a Democrat whose district includes the Kaua’i community where the fatal dam failure occurred. ‘We’re looking at critical water and agriculture policies. We have to face these complex issues.’
Although built primarily to irrigate sugar cane and pineapple fields, the system also was a source of drinking water and hydroelectric power and is still used for those purposes in some areas today. But following the near-collapse of plantation agriculture, the system has fallen into the hands of multiple owners and been maintained poorly, if at all, potentially putting people who live downstream from reservoirs at risk. It exists only because hundreds of streams have been partially or wholly diverted and dewatered.
‘There is no more important time to have a comprehensive examination of the needs of the streams, the needs of the community and the needs of the public,’ says Kapua Sproat, an Earthjustice attorney involved in water use litigation on Maui and O’ahu.
Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), agrees it’s important ‘to start the evaluation of how the water is being used.’ He asks, ‘Is there a use in the future? Should there be a reservoir here? We are by no means suggesting dismantling them all because they’re old, but we do need to start evaluating. Are some of these necessary?’
Jerry Ornellas, president of the East Kaua’i Water Users Cooperative and a tropical fruit farmer, is worried about what the state might decide, given economic realities and pressure levied by environmental groups and real estate developers. ‘There’s that segment that wants water returned to the streams, and this is an opening for them now,’ he observes. ‘And the developers would like nothing better than to see these dams come down because it would make farming untenable. It’d be a real boon for the developers.
‘Agriculture is really in a precarious position right now,’ Ornellas says, noting that virtually every Kaua’i farmer–including the state’s largest coffee grower and the island’s sole remaining sugar planter–depends on the water systems to satisfy irrigation needs. ‘We really have to take the long view, look at the future.’
Hi-Tech Urban Solutions, Inc. 1995 Imagery
Copyright Hawaii Aviation.
The fate of Hawai’i’s aging irrigation system is coming under discussion at a time when the state is grappling with crucial issues that Morita says go hand in hand with water availability. These include identifying key agricultural lands, ostensibly to ensure their preservation and achieving greater sustainability–a goal likely to be met at least in part through locally-grown biofuels.
Meanwhile, the state also has launched a stream assessment program aimed ultimately at setting scientifically based in-stream flow standards. These standards, which have been mandated for years under the state water code, but never developed, are intended to ensure island streams have sufficient water to support native species, watershed health and Hawaiian cultural practices. The only standards set so far have come about through litigation, Sproat says, while the situation remains status quo for other island streams.
The responsibility for developing the standards lies with the state Commission on Water Resource Management, which Morita also sees as the proper forum for debating such questions as which parts of the system should be saved, how the water should be used and who will pay for system maintenance.
But the commission, which falls under the jurisdiction of the DLNR, historically has been under-funded, Sproat says, preventing it from doing its job. Gov. Linda Lingle also previously advocated turning many of its duties over to the counties, a proposal that failed to fly in the face of opposition from environmentalists, Democratic lawmakers and others.
Hi-Tech Urban Solutions, Inc. 2004 Imagery Copyright
Pacific Aerial Surveys’ Oakland CA.
‘The Legislature should provide adequate funding and resources for the Water Commission to do its job to establish in-stream flow standards,’ Sproat says. ‘If they do that first–it’s basic planning. It’s not high-falutin’ science. It’s common sense. Because now it’s, ‘we [large landowners] have all the water, and if you want it, you’ll have to sue.’ And planning by litigation is not the best way to go.’
Sproat gives Young kudos for seeking funding to begin the flow standards studies last year, and Young says he is committed to seeing the process through to its completion and fully implementing the water code.
To that end, Young is requesting $1 million over two years to expand the studies that have already begun and also assess the 1,200 permitted stream diversions throughout the state. Other studies will look at the quality and length of each stream and its component parts.
‘We have an obligation and a responsibility to ensure a stream gets to be a stream,’ Young says. ‘But we also recognize there are other beneficial uses of streams, and we have to balance those uses with its need to be a stream.’
It’s a long range, wide-angle process, raising the question of whether the state is capable of such an overview. ‘That’s one of the challenges right now,’ Morita says. ‘You have to have capable people in these positions who understand policy in the larger picture, who can deal with these complex issues, and that’s going to take time and money.’
Young, whose agency is charged with administering the dam safety and inspection program, managing the stream assessment study and looking after a number of state-owned dams, among numerous other tasks, thinks he and his colleagues are up to the job.
‘I believe the state does have the capability, because we are doing it, but situations do come up that cause attention be drawn to that,’ Young says, noting that last year the stream assessment work was set aside to update the inundation maps following a spate of earthquakes and tsunami watches.
see these dams come down because it would make farming untenable.’
Still, it’s clear to Morita–who has already drafted House bills based on recommendations outlined in the Kaloko Dam report–that lawmakers must take the lead ‘because it’s all policy driven.’ As she sees it, the Legislature now faces two issues: ‘How to amend the Dam Safety Act, because what’s critical here is public safety, and how do these [irrigation] systems fit into the bigger scheme of things.’
Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, (D-Kaua’i) is working with Morita to introduce companion bills in the Senate. ‘I’m confident we’ll have lots of support and we’ll pass much of it into law because of the immediacy and urgency of the Kaloko incident.’ He’s also ‘hoping, and we’ll be advocating, to increase funding to move forward with the in-stream flow standards work. It’s just always being vigilant about protecting natural resources.’
But protecting natural resources costs money, raising the question of who should pay to maintain dams, ditches and reservoirs, and also decommission them, which Ornellas says is itself a costly enterprise. ‘I think a lot of the private [dam and reservoir] owners are taking a hard look, and I’m not sure a lot of them have the stomach to stay in the game, especially if they’re not directly involved in agriculture,’ Ornellas says.
Other private reservoir owners, including Grove Farm Co. on Kaua’i, owned by high-tech tycoon Steve Case, and Maui’s Wailuku Water Co., are now selling the collected surface water to municipalities and other users to support development on their former plantation lands because ground water is unavailable or already tapped out.
‘Even though they are no longer in agriculture, they continue to take all the water from the streams, and that challenges the very notion of water as a public trust,’ Sproat says, noting that the public trust concept dates back to traditional practices in the Islands, and also is embedded in both the state water code and Hawai’i’s Constitution.
Earthjustice is representing two Maui community groups in litigation aimed at ending Wailuku Water Co.’s monopoly and freeing ‘the four great waters of Maui’ from their diversions, Sproat says. The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. is engaged in similar litigation involving other Maui streams on behalf of Hawaiian plaintiffs.
‘Our aim is to return public trust resources to public uses,’ Sproat says. ‘The water commission has not been upholding the law and holding the plantations’ feet to the fire. Instead, they’re letting them use the water for their personal profit and often the burden falls on community groups to enforce that.’
Young acknowledges that legal disputes over East Maui water and O’ahu’s Waiahole Stream ‘are symptomatic of bigger issues, and we need to address it. I want us to move from interim in-stream to in-stream flow standards and start making the hard decisions. We’re trying to look at in a comprehensive, inclusive manner.’
But the state moves slowly, and some environmental and community groups are worried that large landowners will use the Kaloko tragedy to end run the process.
‘Many of us are very concerned because we understand this is going to be the year they attempt to gut the state water code,’ Sproat says, noting that large landowners have attempted in each of the last several years to get bills passed that would make agriculture a public trust purpose on par with native ecosystems and native Hawaiian uses, thus locking in their control over the water.
Hooser, however, says he hasn’t seen any indication the water code is any more at risk this year than in previous legislative sessions. ‘Certain interests will always be pushing for more,’ he says. ‘It’s just the nature of life.’
Still, he says, ‘it’s important to be clear up front it’s not acceptable to weaken the water code, and that sends a message to policy makers. There’s a lot more response to the community than people think. That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant and just show up [for hearings and planning meetings]. If you want to make sure resources are managed well, show up.’
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