Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 2, 1 February 1995 — The water of life returns to Waiāhole [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The water of life returns to Waiāhole

Story and photos by Jeff Clark Today, water in Waiāhole Stream again flows from the mountain to the sea. With it flows pono. For the past 80 years, Waiāhole water had been redirected to flow through the Ko'olau Range via manmade tunnel and down a ditch to leeward sugar fields. As a result, Windward O'ahu residents - Hawaiians in particular - wishing to irrigate taro patches and to be able to gather 'o'opu and hīhlwai were short their own resource. But with sugar no longer under cultivation, Hawaiians, environmentalists and community members from Kahalu'u to Hakipu'u said that it was only right for the water to flow in the direction it was intended to flow. The Waiāhole Irrigation Company, a subsidiary of AmFac, disagreed. The company argued that the ditch was needed to replenish the aquifer - the underground supply of fresh water - on 0'ahu's more populous Leeward side. Petitions, hearings and debates ensued, with taro farmers and other members of the Windward community supported by the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, among others. By way of a mediated agreement signed by 15 out of 17 interested organizations, including Waiāhole Irrigation (Bishop Estate and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources were the two dissenting entities - see accompanying box), the state Water Use Commission has aIlowed 12 - 14 million gallons of water a day to flow through Waiāhole Valley. The Leeward side will eonūnue to get about eight million gallons a day from Waiāhole. No longer required for

irngation because of the closing of O'ahu Sugar (another AmFac subsidiary), the water had in recent months been dumped into gulches in the Waiawa area; the water commission based its decision on its opposition to water waste. The arrangement establishes a six-month trial period and doesn't cover the entire flow, but to taro farmers and environmentalists, it's a start. The water is flowing

and those who fought for that are encouraged by their triumph, no matter how temporary or incomplete. Victory's sweet taste was noted by more than one person who gathered in Waiāhole on Christmas Eve to I celebrate the water's return. Representing Ka Lāhui | and the UH-Mānoa Center for Hawaiian Studies, I Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa remarked that it's not often

I that Hawaiians win these kinds of battles. Amy I Luersen, Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board chairI person, said the triumph will encourage people I to continue the fight and possibly gain a more I permanent victory. Community leader Herbert Hoe implored I those gathered to "listen. Listen to what's hapI pening." They were quiet; the stream was not. I It swooshed and it gurgled. "It's not even raining," Hoe pointed out. "This is what we're here for. This is not just for Hawaiians - this is for all of us. This is not just for Hakipu'u, Waikāne, and Waiāhole - this is for all of us." "To hear the water in the stream and see the hapiness on the faces of our people - these are the kinds of things that you remember as a Hawaiian," said OHA Trustee Kīna'u Boyd Kamali'i.

Taro farmer Charles Reppun said no one could remember seeing the stream run so swiftly and steadily. For decades Waiāhole Stream either trickled lightly or, when heavy rains brought floodwaters, overran its banks. Reppun said, "It's been a long time coming. I hope it stays. I'm hoping that it changes the way people think."

Groups and organizations whieh agreed to let a portion of the Waiāhole water flow windward for a six-month trial period are: Campbell Estate, Del Monte, the state Dept. of Agriculture, Dole/Castle and Cooke, the Farm Bureau, Hakipu'u 'Ohana, Hawai'i's Thousand Friends, Hui Mālama 'Āina O Lā'ie, the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board, OHA, the Robinson Estate, the Hawai'i - Lā'iekawai Association, the U.S. Navy, Waiāhole Irrigation Company, and the WaiāholeWaikāne Community Association.

Its leadership in transition due to the election of a new governor, the Department of Land and Natural Resources didn't join the agreement because the new department head wasn't to take office until this year (the agreement was reached in December 1994). Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KS/BE), the other water use applicant that didn't sign the agreement, said in a statement prepared by their attorney Nathan Aipa, "Our opposition in this matter is to the process whieh has created a temporary 'solution' whieh, in the long run, could have a negative permanent effect on our ability to preserve and protect this institution's rights to waters whieh emanate from our Waiawa properties and whieh flow into the Waiāhole ditch. The waters that we are pursuing originate from our Waiawa property and will be utilized to develop that property for agricultural, residential and commereial activity." OHA land and natural resources officer Linda Delaney said the estate's view is decidedly non-Hawaiian, because in old Hawai'i, "Water was something to be managed for the eommon benefit, in the context of stewardship. They're looking at this as if they own the water because it comes from their land." Next step: A contested case hearing that will result in a more permanent decision will be scheduled by the water commission. Those who want to get involved or who need more information about this issue ean eall Linda Delaney, OHA's land and natural resources officer, at 594-1888.

Above: Waiahole Stream and some of its supporters. I Left: Ho'okupu offered to weleome back the water.

The community gathers to celebrate a temporary victory.