STAR-BULLETIN / OCTOBER 2001 The 25-mile Waiahole Ditch runs from Kahana Valley to Kunia. Shown here is the entryway to the water tunnel. Both sides of a dispute over water from the ditch have until Jan. 28 to appeal the state Commission on Water Resources Management's final decision on water allocations.

Deadline approaches
for Waiahole
water appeal

Allocations released by a state
commission get a mixed response

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Parties in the Waiahole Ditch case have until Jan. 28 to decide whether they will appeal the state Commission on Water Resources Management's final decision on water allotments, which was released Dec. 28.

Meanwhile, the state Agribusiness Development Corp., which has operated the ditch since 1999, will ask the Legislature for $200,000 in emergency funds to comply with it, Executive Director Alfredo Lee said.

That is what Lee estimates it will cost to design and build a 150 to 200-foot-long pipeline to restore water from Waiahole Ditch to the rugged upper reaches of Waikane Stream.

The 25-mile Waiahole Ditch runs from Kahana Valley to Kunia. With the water no longer needed for sugar crops, Windward interests have battled to restore more flow to natural streams, while Leeward interests have said they need water for diversified agriculture projects.

After Windward interests appealed the water commission's 1997 ruling on how Waiahole Ditch water would be allocated, the Hawaii Supreme Court required the commission to revisit its ruling, which resulted in the current decision.

The Water Commission's order calls for Windward streams and Leeward landowners to get the following amounts, all in millions of gallons a day, or mgd, with comparison to the 1997 ruling (in parentheses):

>> Waiahole Stream, 8.7 mgd (up from 7.9)
>> Waianu Stream, 3.5 mgd (up from 2.5)
>> Waikane Stream, 3.5 mgd (up from 1.4)
>> Kahana Stream, 11.2 mgd (no change)
>> Robinson, 2.49 mgd (no change)
>> Nihonkai, 0.48 mgd (no change)
>> Campbell, 4.74 mgd (down from 5.28)
>> Dole/Castle & Cooke, 2.13 mgd (down from 2.22)
>> Kamehameha Schools, 0.17 mgd (no change)

"In certain respects this is better than their previous (December 1997) decision and in certain respects worse," said Paul Achitoff, the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund attorney who represents the Waiahole-Waikane community and other Windward interests.

"It gives more water to Leeward permit-holders than they are really entitled to, far more than they have ever showed the need to use," Achitoff said. "The commission (also) has allocated more water to interim in-stream flow standards for Waiahole and Waikane streams than in its previous decision."

Achitoff said his clients have not decided whether they will appeal the final ruling to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Attorney Gary Slovin said yesterday he is waiting for word from his client, landowner Dole/Castle & Cooke, on whether it wants to appeal.

"My impression at this point is that would be unlikely," he said.