Environment / Most folks never gave much thought to the dams and reservoirs around the state until the waters held by the Kaloko Reservoir broke free on March 14, 2006, killing seven people and sweeping tons of sediment onto north Kauai’s reefs.

In the years since, much of the discussion has focused on who was to blame for the tragedy, as well as how to ensure that the remaining structures around the state are safe.

Less attention has been paid to related topics, such as the role these systems play in agriculture and water well recharge, who should bear maintenance costs and whether some of these trapped waters should be returned to the streams. But these issues have surfaced again now that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has drafted a proposed set of administrative rules, as required under the Hawaii Dam and Reservoir Safety Act of 2007.

The proposed rules impose a number of new conditions aimed at protecting public safety, such as requiring dam owners to secure a permit to impound water and develop plans for operation, maintenance and emergency preparedness. They also would give the state authority to conduct unannounced inspections at least once every five years and compel owners to make repairs, while adding criminal penalties for violations.

Yet in hearings held around the state this past month, dam and reservoir owners, as well as farmers who rely on water from the systems, balked primarily at plans to impose new fees.

The proposed rules call for increasing daily fines from $500 to a maximum of $25,000 for owners whose dams are not in compliance. They also would assess a $400 filing fee for a permit to impound water in a reservoir and an annual fee of $500 per dam, plus $110 per foot of height.

Howard Green, a spokesman for Kauai landowner Gay & Robinson, testified at a recent hearing that the new fees would total $50,000 to $60,000 annually for its 13 reservoirs and create a hardship for the company, which recently ended its sugar operations.

In its testimony, Alexander & Baldwin Inc. asked the state to drop the annual fee, which would amount to some $210,000 per year for its 48 dams and reservoirs on Kauai and Maui and “significantly increase the operating costs of both our sugar and coffee operations, which have lost a considerable amount of money over the past two years.”

Carty Chang, DLNR’s chief engineer, said the fees already were reduced in response to comments received last February when the first draft of rules was circulated to dam owners “as a courtesy.” But fees can’t be completely eliminated, he said, because the agency’s dam safety program no longer receives any state funding and so must be self-supporting.

“We’re hoping that people will begin to recognize that owning a dam is expensive,” Chang said. “Like anything else, you have to upkeep it or you’re putting public safety at risk.”

Tropical fruit farmer Jerry Ornellas, who is also president of the East Kauai Water Users and a member of the state Board of Agriculture, worries the expense may prompt some landowners to decommission their reservoirs, with potentially deleterious effects on both farming and municipal water supplies.

“The public needs to be careful of these unforeseen consequences,” Ornellas said. “If there’s some public benefits, then the public should share the costs.”

Edwin Matsuda, an engineer with the state’s flood control and dam safety program, said the agency has taken steps to reduce the financial burden on dam owners, such as developing templates, preparing maps and conducting studies so owners can produce the required plans and manuals without technical assistance.

“It’s not us against them,” Chang said. “We want to help dam owners succeed in making their dams safe.”

About 70 percent of Hawaii’s reservoirs and dams are privately owned. While some supply water for farming and municipal use, others have been reborn as private lakes in luxury agricultural subdivisions.

Just two of the 138 water storage structures around the state have been decommissioned in recent years, Matsuda said. However, it’s likely others will be, either because they’re already abandoned or their owners need less storage capacity.

DLNR also is decommissioning a few of its own dams and reservoirs. Its decision wasn’t driven solely by maintenance costs, Matsuda said, “but future potential uses” of the structures.

While Matsuda and Chang said they are aware of the various issues associated with preserving dams and reservoirs, the state’s program focuses solely on public safety, and so that’s what the proposed rules and fees reflect.

“If the Legislature believes there are other public benefits, then it’s up to them to decide,” whether to allocate funds for the upkeep of privately owned structures, Chang said.

Ornellas said one option may be requiring landowners who receive public funding for dam maintenance to designate substantial acreage as Important Ag Lands, thus ensuring the water is used for farming.

Agriculture isn’t the only reason to keep reservoirs intact, Ornellas said. The surface water they capture “is way more sustainable than groundwater,” he said, and could play a greater role in supplying municipal needs.

“We need to develop this peripheral vision and take a comprehensive look at these water systems,” Ornellas said. “It’s just common sense to be able to store water. It’s like that’s your spare canteen.”

But while conservationists also advocate taking a comprehensive look at Hawaii’s reservoirs, it’s with an eye toward seeing if some of that stored water should be returned to the streams that plantations began dewatering a century ago. And the question of whether private dam owners should be able to control a public resource continues to be a source of litigation.