ASSOCIATED PRESS
A rain catchment and water storage system on Kahoolawe was dedicated in a ceremony on Thursday. The system is designed to collect 640,000 gallons of water per year.
HAKIOWA, Hawaii >> Restoring Kahoolawe from a military practice target to a lush island full of native plants and trees is one step closer to reality. Kahoolawe gets water system
The rain catchment will help in
cultivating plant life on the islandAssociated Press
A ceremony Thursday celebrated the completion of the first rain catchment and water storage system on the uninhabited island that was used for target practice by the Navy for five decades.
The catchment system is designed to collect 640,000 gallons of water per year. It was completed three weeks ago and has already collected 25,000 gallons of water, said Keoni Fairbanks, executive director of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission.
The water will be used to nourish the eroded soil and the thousands of native plants being planted there. The anticipated demand for restoration is 350,000 gallons a year, the commission said.
The catchment system cost $3 million and was built by Honolulu-based KD Construction Inc. The cost was high because all the materials and labor had to be flown to the island, Fairbanks said.
It was paid for by the state's Kahoolawe Trust Fund, which receives part of the funds Congress gives to the Navy for cleanup.
Six miles southwest of Maui, Kahoolawe, at 45 square miles, is the smallest of the eight major Hawaiian islands. It is 11 miles long and 7 miles wide, with its highest elevation at 1,480 feet.
"We want to re-establish a native forest for the summit here and have it sustain itself," Fairbanks said.
The work is being done in stages, with native grasses and shrubs introduced first to control erosion and provide wind shelter for the tree seedlings that will follow. The plants and trees will eventually catch the water to recharge the soil.
"Right now the aquifer is shot," he said. "The water runs off."
About 20,000 plants have already been planted on the summit of the island since March. About 80 percent of the plants survived because of wetter weather this year.
Experts say the loss of vegetation began with cattle ranching, followed by the introduction of goats in the late 18th century. The Navy has removed the goats.
The Navy used Kahoolawe as a target and training area from 1941 until 1990, when former President George Bush ordered a halt to the exercises after years of protests and lawsuits by native Hawaiian groups.
Congress agreed in 1993 to spend up to $400 million through November 2003 to clear the ordnance, and required Kahoolawe's return to local control.
State of Hawaii
