KOLOA — The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is seeking a $5,000 fine from the owners of a faulty dam, which could endanger more than 600 people if it failed.
The Pu‘u O Hewa Reservoir — located about 2 miles north of Old Koloa Town — is classified as a high-hazard dam in poor condition. Though it is generally fully drained or has a low water level, the reservoir has the capacity to store about 37 million gallons of water.
DLNR reported an outlet intended to drain the reservoir has been clogged with silt, rocks and debris since last year.
“This is a highly dangerous situation because it means that there is no way to control the water level in the reservoir, which could result in the potential overtopping and failure of the dam in a large storm event,” said Carty Chang, DLNR Engineering Division chief engineer, in a letter to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources last month.
The lessees of the dam alerted DLNR to the situation in July 2022, but the agency reported that the owner — large South Shore landowner the Knudsen Trust — has been slow to act to address the problem.
While they submitted an emergency operations plan and have kept the reservoir empty, the trust has not yet retained a consultant nor provided engineering drawings to the DLNR, as they were instructed in a Nov. 2, 2022, notice of deficiency order.
“Despite being put on notice continuously, being reminded of the emergency nature, the owner has failed to address this issue to date,” said Chang at a BLNR meeting on Feb. 24.
At that meeting, Chang requested the BLNR levy a $5,000 fine against the Knudsen Trust, with another $10,000 fine if the engineering drawings are not completed by April 7. If the owners fail to pay within 60 days, Chang requested they be fined an additional $5,000 a day.
A representative for the Knudsen Trust requested a contested case hearing at the meeting.
“We’re not quite clear that the dam actually falls within the jurisdiction of the DLNR,” said Nick Ernst, a lawyer representing a member of the Knudsen Trust. “It is definitely not the trustees’ position to want to put any lives in jeopardy. It’s just an issue of coordinating with the lessees and taking these steps to make sure that things are being done properly on their end.”
The lease is currently being transferred from one entity to another, leading to confusion about who is responsible for maintenance, Ernst said.
Because of the request for a contested case hearing, the board did not issue a fine on Friday.
These fines would be in addition to the fines the state is seeking for the Mauka Dam, another poor-condition Koloa-area dam owned by the Knudsen Trust. Representatives of the trust have also requested a contested case hearing on that matter.
The Pu‘u O Hewa Reservoir saw rising water levels amid heavy rains last week, forcing the operators to pump out excess water.
“It had got up to 6 feet, and they were pumping all day,” said Gina Belleau, DLNR dam safety engineer, at the meeting. “They were doing their due diligence, but it tells you that you have to do all this extra stuff. The outlet was not performing like it was supposed to.”
Faulty dam infrastructure
Kaua‘i was the site of a tragic dam failure that led the state to update its regulations on dam operators.
In 2006, the walls of the Ka Loko Reservoir dam on the North Shore gave way, sending hundreds of millions of gallons of water rushing downhill, killing seven and causing millions of dollars in damage.
The owner, retired auto dealer James Pflueger, had been conducting illegal grading on the property, which may have contributed to the collapse.
Pflueger was sentenced to seven months in prison for reckless endangering after reaching a plea deal, and along with the state of Hawai‘i and County of Kaua‘i was held liable in a $25 million settlement.
The disaster led to the passage of the Hawai‘i Dam and Reservoir Safety Act of 2007, which revamped dam regulations and allowed fines of up to $25,000 a day for noncompliance.
Despite the increased regulation, dam infrastructure is consistently not up to code both on Kaua‘i and throughout Hawai‘i.
Of the 126 dams regulated by the state, 118 are listed as high-hazard structures, meaning their failure could cause a potential loss of life.
The DLNR recently completed a study on the condition of dams under its purview, finding that 64 percent are in “poor” condition, while 15 percent are considered “unsatisfactory,” which means they are in more urgent need of repair. That was well above the number in 2019, when an Associated Press study found 40 percent of Hawai‘i dams were found to be in poor or unsatisfactory condition.
Unlike most other infrastructure like roads or bridges, most of these dams are privately owned, making it challenging for regulators to enforce safety requirements.
On Kaua‘i, 33 of the 48 dams listed on the DLNR website are in poor condition, while 10 are considered unsatisfactory. Only five dams on island are in “fair” condition and none are considered to be “satisfactory.”
“It feels like we’re sitting on a ticking time bomb as a state,” said BLNR member Aimee Barnes at the meeting. “We’re setting ourselves up for at least one, potentially many situations where there could be serious loss of property and life.”
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
Just a clarification about the owner of the Ka Loko Dam, retired auto dealer James Pflueger, who had been conducting illegal grading on the property. Mr. Pflueger allegedly filled in the emergency spillway to the dam in an effort to increase the amount of water being held in the reservoir and enhance the value of potential house sites surrounding the reservoir. That action apparently caused the collapse.
Pflueger was sentenced to seven months in prison, not for reckless endangering, but for 7 counts of manslaughter, after a plea deal cooked up by Pflueger’s attorneys and the deputy prosecutor for the state, Vince Kawamoto, which would have convicted Pflueger of reckless endangering, but with no jail time, was rejected by Justice Randall Valenciano.
Dam owners must be held liable for any safety issues with these MANY high hazard dams. The DLNR must be empowered to force dam owners to comply with safety edicts. Dam owners who are left to self-manage have obviously not managed to do so.
Knudsen Trust needs to be held accountable….. they have the money and need to take responsibility for Koloa residents and business. This is a critical need. Please BLNR/DLNR be firm on this- we need protection from the Knudsen’s failure to maintain this waterway.