In Waipi`o, Taro Rises; In Hamakua, Sugar Falls, and Therein Lies a Tale

posted in: August 1995 | 0

Has the Lower Hamakua Ditch outlived its purpose?

Since 1910, the ditch delivered on average some 30 million gallons a day to the sugar plantations along the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast. Last October, however, the last harvest of sugar took place. The mill is gone. The equipment is gone. The fields are fallow.

No one has stepped forward with a clearly stated need for the water; no one has identified lands or crops that could possibly use all, or even most, of the ditch water.

Yet the state Department of Agriculture is pressing forward with a costly plan to renovate the ditch. Federal funds have been obtained to help with the expense. And, to clear the way for the use of those funds, a federal environmental impact statement, compliments of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is expected to be completed, along with a record of decision, by late September.

No environmental disclosures were made at the time the ditch was built. From 1906 to about 1912, water in the streams that flowed for centuries through Waipi`o Valley — the same streams, in fact, that carved out the valley — was taken out. First the Upper Hamakua Ditch, then the Lower Ditch, then the Lalakea Tunnel tapped every one of the five tributaries to the great Wailoa River that flows across the valley floor. Together the diversions remove more than half of the water that naturally would flow into the valley.

Today, Waipi`o Valley is witnessing a renaissance in the cultivation of taro. Some farmers fear that, without some change in the way the ditch has been operated, the valley will be short of water in dry times, while burdened with more than its fair share during times of heavy rain. Others worry that while the water flows available now may be sufficient for present use, farmers seeking to open up abandoned lo`i at some future time may not be able to find water for them.

In this issue and the next, Environment Hawai`i takes a long look at the water of Waipi`o and its alter ego, the Lower Hamakua Ditch. With the support of the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, the newsletter will also be sponsoring a day-long discussion of these topics on August 24. The meeting, to be held at Tex’s Drive-In Restaurant in Honoka`a, will begin at 8:30 a.m. There is no charge, but reservations are requested. For details, please call (808) 934-0115 or write us at 200 Kanoelehua Avenue, Suite 103-325, Hilo, Hawai`i 96720.

Volume 6, Number 2 August 1995