Damaged Hamakua HONOKAA, Hawaii >> Three years of little or no water from the Lower Hamakua Ditch has cost farmers $11 million, the Hamakua - North Hilo Agricultural Cooperative estimates.
ditch runs
farmers dry
Even after repairs, it may take
years for Big Island farms
to recover their lossesBy Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletinTwo-thirds of the $11 million was in lost income, the other third in money spent, co-op President Walker Sanders said yesterday.
"We need help now," farmer Elroy Juan, choking back tears, told federal, state and county officials.
Farmers at the end of the system are hurt worst.
Oscar Dalmacio said he has had no water for three years and has zero income now.
He has planted aloe, which requires only occasional rain, but that is a low-value, long-term crop.
Steve Dias was once a leader in demonstrating that papaya could be grown in Hamakua. His papaya field is now a dust bowl.
Orchid grower Jerome Akasaki gets no water from his 4-inch pipes linked to the ditch.
He depends on a 58 -inch pipe linked to a county system, which barely keeps his younger plants alive. The old ones are dying.
Akasaki can get county water because he owns his land. Co-op members, leasing from the state, cannot.
Officials said help is on the way, but no substantial water may be available until next May, and the picture may get worse before then.
Even if full flow is restored, farmers will not see a financial return until up to two years later, Juan said.
A tour yesterday of portions of the 24-mile irrigation system and farms dependent on it was arranged by state Rep. Dwight Takamine (D, North Hilo-Hamakua-North Kohala).
Takamine said he hopes state and federal officials, partners in a $10.6 million overall repair plan, will expedite it.
And he hoped for additional relief, "even if it's Band-Aid," he said.Mayor Harry Kim said he may declare a state of emergency in the area, which might help to speed some projects.
Members of the co-op have asked the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to stop charging farmers lease rents on state land until water is restored. The request is pending.
Built in 1910, the ditch consists of nine miles of tunnels inside the 2,000-foot cliffs of Waipio Valley, a concrete-lined ditch along the coast, and numerous flumes across gullies.
Hamakua Sugar Co. operated the ditch, but even before the company went out of business in 1994, the system suffered major damage in 1989 when a portion of Waipio cliff collapsed, taking part of the ditch tunnel with it.
A temporary, leaky repair has been in place since then.
State Department of Agriculture official Paul Matsuo told farmers work on cutting a new tunnel is expected to start in October.
All water would be cut off from the ditch during construction.
Meanwhile, the thin concrete lining of the ditch is crumbling to pebbles, and flumes are collapsing.
Flume 37 collapsed early in the year and was repaired, but it gets no water because Flume 30 went down April 2.
Matsuo said that flume will be fixed next month, but Sanders said Flumes 32 and 33 are likely to go next.