Some Big Isle farmers
say it’s too late for
irrigation ditch plan

By Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin

The state Board of Agriculture today was to review a plan that would maintain and allocate water in a 26-mile-long irrigation ditch in the northern section of the Big Island.

But some farmers whose fields have had little or no water in the past month fear help will come too late for their crops.

"I'm thinking of quitting," said Antonio Gomera, a Paauilo farmer.

Gomera said the shoots of his asparagus plants are withering because he has no irrigation water.

Steven Dias, another farmer, says already has lost 50 percent of his papaya crop and expects a low yield in the near future.

Some 70 farmers in Paauilo rely on the Lower Hamakua Ditch to irrigate their fields.

The ditch has been operated and maintained by the state Department of Agriculture under a bankruptcy agreement with Hamakua Sugar Co. several years ago.

Farmers say the flow of water at Paauilo has decreased because an increasing number of people are using it and also because of poor maintenance.

State official Paul Matsuo said the ditch system, portions of which are more than 90 years old, have not been maintained properly since about 1991 and is deteriorating.

Officials estimate the system is losing 10 million to 15 million gallons a day.

The ditch is in really bad shape, Matsuo said.

State officials say until an irrigation authority is established with rules, they have no legal power to allocate water use and little money to maintain it.

Agriculture Board members were scheduled to meet in the department's conference room on King Street to decide whether to establish an irrigation district to charge and control water use along the ditch.

Matsuo said rules and regulations to operate the district will have to be drafted and adopted by the board -- which could take from eight to 18 months.

Matsuo said that if the board authorizes the irrigation district, he plans to work with farmers to form an interim committee to voluntarily regulate the use of the ditch until rules are adopted.

He said during a public hearing Sunday on the Big Island, there was no major opposition to the establishment of an irrigation district.

Matsuo said the state has been paying a contractor $12,225 a month to keep the ditch water flowing, however, the bid contract does not include making major repairs to breaks in the system.

If there's a crack in the system, it's not the contractor's responsibility to repair it, he said.

"He clears the debris. He's doing what's called for in the contract as far as we can determine," Matsuo said.