The Commission on Water Resource Management has approved a contested case hearing to be held on the long-term fate of water in the Waiahole ditch. The decision occurred at the commission’s meeting on November 16, where it considered the formal petition of three windward O’ahu groups to restore natural flows to Waiahole and several other windward streams. The petition was filed last year by the Hakipu’u Ohana, the Waiahole-Waikane Community Association, and the Kahalu’u Neighborhood Board.
More than 20 parties have asked to participate in the contested case hearing. In addition to the expected contestants – the three windward groups that filed the petition; Waiahole Irrigation Company, which operates the ditch; the Hawai’i Farm Bureau; Bishop Estate; Campbell Estate; Del Monte; and Dole – some new faces appeared at the November 16 meeting, seeking to become involved in this stage of the proceeding.
Representative Annelle Amaral sought to intervene on behalf of a group she identified as consisting of at least “six public-service individuals,” including Amaral herself, Nestor Garcia, Arnold Morgado, Jr., Brian Kanno, Paul Oshiro, Mervyn Jones, and Robert Bunda. In addition, Jack Keppeler, deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, asked to have the DLNR admitted as a contestant.
An attorney for two other newcomers to the process – Hale Pua Development Corporation (developers of Royal Kunia) and West Beach Estates (developers of Ko Olina) – also asked that they be admitted as contestants.
At an earlier meeting, the commission had approved a process of mediation to determine what should be done with the Waiahole water over the next six months or so – that is, whether unused water in the ditch should continue to be released into leeward gulches, or whether it should be returned to windward streams. On November 16, the commission set a December 15 deadline for an outcome to that mediation. If no settlement is agreed to by all the parties to the mediation at that time, that matter, too, will be resolved at the end of a contested-case hearing.
Representatives of the windward groups, as well as Waiahole Irrigation Company, objected to the limitation on the possible scope of issues to be addressed by the mediation process. At the time the mediation was approved by the commission, in October 1994, and also at the first mediation session, the participants were led to believe that the scope of mediation was to be determined by the parties involved – and them alone.
As they have in the past, the windward groups objected to the ongoing dumping of water from the windward coast into leeward O’ahu and asked that the commission act at once to order it brought to a halt.
It was for naught. The Water Commission approved the staff’s recommendation, with minor amendments. The scope of mediation was limited to “short-term” issues, while the commission consented to its staff moving ahead with needed preparations for the contested case hearing to deal with the longer-term questions of allocation.
The Waiahole ditch carries water from windward streams to leeward O’ahu. For the last 80 years, the water has been used to irrigate sugar fields. With the cessation of sugar cultivation in leeward O’ahu, the windward groups are seeking to have the water restored to windward streams. They are being challenged by parties who desire to see the ditch system – and its water – remain intact to support future agriculture and development.
Volume 5, Number 6 December 1994
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