Community members who battled for years to restore Waiahole Ditch water to Windward streams plan to contest Kamehameha Schools' request for more water for Leeward development. Waiahole water debate
swirls anewWindward residents oppose a
request by Kamehameha Schools
for more stream waterBy Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.comKamehameha wants to use 4.2 million gallons a day of Waiahole Ditch water for landscape and golf course irrigation and dust control at its proposed Waiawa by Gentry housing project.
Currently the water flows via Waiahole, Waikane and Waianu streams to Kaneohe Bay.
At a public hearing on the Kamehameha request, Windward parties are expected to formally register their objection, triggering a quasi-judicial contested case hearing in the matter. The hearing will at 4 p.m. tomorrow at the state Capitol auditorium.
"Unless Kamehameha withdraws its request, the Windward parties would be forced to call for a contested case hearing," said Kapua Sproat, an EarthJustice attorney representing Windward residents.
"These communities have stepped forward to protect the public's interest before and we'll do it again," Sproat said, referring to the Waiahole Ditch case, now on appeal to the state Supreme Court for the second time.
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.
Windward residents objected to Kamehameha's request to use the water for non-agricultural purposes at the Water Commission's May meeting, but the trust's application was allowed to proceed to the public hearing stage.
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. Several parties appealed the Water Commission's final decision, released in December. That appeal is pending.
The Water Commission staff is recommending that the commission approve 1.7 million of the 4.2 million gallons a day Kamehameha is requesting, saying that amount falls within the 2.2 million gallons a day of Waiahole Ditch water that are not distributed.
Sproat said the Water Commission's recommendation reverts "to pre-code days of just doling out water to any developer that seeks it," Sproat said. "It reads as if no contested case hearing had never occurred. It reads as if Hawaii Supreme Court had never issued a decision. We're very disappointed."
Spokesman Kekoa Paulsen said Kamehameha Schools trustees were to discuss the issue at a meeting yesterday, but he didn't expect the trust to withdraw its request.