Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, was a historic day for Kauai. As reported by TGI on Dec. 15, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved renewal of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s revocable permit (RP) to divert water from Wai‘ale‘ale and Waikoko Streams. BLNR ended a 100-year history of 100 percent base flow diversions from these two culturally significant streams. BLNR’s approval was conditioned on: 1. KIUC assure at least 4 million gallons of flow remain in Wai‘ale‘ale and 1.5 million gallons remain in Waikoko Stream, 2. KIUC meet with community groups to discuss the quantity of water needed for operation of the Upper and Lower Waiahi Hydropower Plants, and 3. KIUC return to the board in three months to report on stream restoration and their meetings with the community.
Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, was a historic day for Kauai. As reported by TGI on Dec. 15, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved renewal of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s revocable permit (RP) to divert water from Wai‘ale‘ale and Waikoko Streams. BLNR ended a 100-year history of 100 percent base flow diversions from these two culturally significant streams. BLNR’s approval was conditioned on: 1. KIUC assure at least 4 million gallons of flow remain in Wai‘ale‘ale and 1.5 million gallons remain in Waikoko Stream, 2. KIUC meet with community groups to discuss the quantity of water needed for operation of the Upper and Lower Waiahi Hydropower Plants, and 3. KIUC return to the board in three months to report on stream restoration and their meetings with the community.
Over the past 100 years, plantations had operated these and other stream diversions taking 100 percent of the base flow, all flow on days when it was not raining, to irrigate thousands of acres of sugar cane. That practice left dry stream beds for as long as one mile downstream. By requiring a minimum flow be left in these streams, BLNR reestablished a continuous mauka-to-makai flow from Mount Wai‘ale‘ale to the ocean.
Since the end of sugar, there have been several Hawaii Supreme Court decisions emphasizing the importance of mauka-to-makai stream flow, emphasizing the need for stream restoration to avoid further harm to the environment and to the cultural practices of the people of Hawaii.
Even though sugar and its related crop irrigation needs ended, there was no restoration of continuous stream flow in Wai‘ale‘ale and Waikoko until recently. For 15 years, KIUC has operated two state diversions that take water from these two streams via the ‘Ili‘ili‘ula Ditch system, crossing Grove Farm land, which also collects 100 percent of base flows from numerous other streams flowing over Grove Farm land. The diverted water passes through the Upper and Lower KIUC Waiahi hydros. Waters diverted from Wai‘ale‘ale and Waikoko are further diverted into Kapaia Reservoir and to Grove Farm’s Waiahi Surface Water Treatment Plant. From there, water has been sold to the Kauai Department of Water for at minimum $2 million annually since 2004. During the plantation era, the Hanamaulu Stream was dammed up, creating the Kapaia Reservoir, on Grove Farm land.
Kapaia Reservoir also connects to the Koloa Ditch system, which leads to the Waita Reservoir. That reservoir, the largest in the state, is also on Grove Farm land. The amount of water stored in Waita is scary: 3.2259 billion gallons in a dam 23’ high. At Kapaia, the dam is 50’ high but only holds 336 million gallons. There are no dams on Kauai that hold anywhere near the volume of the Waita.
KIUC’s latest edition of “Currents” identifies a total of five hydropower operations on Kauai. The combined power sale from all five represents 2.7 percent of their total sales. The maximum power from the two Waiahi hydros is limited to 1.5 mW daily due to design. In stark contrast, TGI reported Dec. 16 that KIUC’s newest renewable energy operation is generating 20 mW daily.
In approving the RP renewal, BLNR suggested that Grove Farm also participate in the community meetings. Board members emphasized that the waters being diverted from natural stream flow are the state’s water even if the streams are on privately property. Kia‘i Wai ‘o Wai‘ale‘ale, a grassroots community organization, is one of the groups advocating for restoration of mauka-to-makai stream flow. We look forward to working with KIUC and Grove Farm toward a positive result when we all return to BLNR in March 2019.
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Bridget Hammerquist is a Koloa resident, and writes this on behalf of Kia‘i Wai ‘o Wai‘ale‘ale.
