The “Monthly Ditch Reports” of DeRego Services to the state indicate some of the difficulties encountered in routine ditch maintenance.
In November, December, and January, the maintenance teams visited intake grates at the back of Waipi`o Valley. “Every time we go up to the intakes, we have to break the dam that the taro farmers built in order to cross the river,” the reports state. “When we return, we must rebuild the dam to keep peace with the taro farmers. This takes an additional 4 men-hours to break and 4 men-hours to rebuild. The deepest section of the river crossings is approximately 5 feet deep with the dam intact. That is why it is a must to break the dam and rebuild it.”
Just below the point where the jeep road fords the river lies the most mauka of five dams, or waterheads, built by the taro farmers to divert water into their `auwai, or channels. According to a farmer in the valley, DeRego at first did not rebuild the dam, made of loose stones, forcing the farmers to repair it. Only after being informed by the farmers that this was unacceptable did the workers — “to keep peace with the taro farmers” — begin rebuilding the dam after completing their check of the intakes.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 6, Number 3 September 1995
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