If the state does not acquire the system as a whole, basically it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” the Land Division’s acting assistant administrator Lauren Yasaka told the state Board of Land and Natural Resources at its February 27 meeting.
The division had requested that day that the board approve the acquisition of nearly 126 acres of land in and around the Wahiawā Reservoir from Dole Food Company, Inc. and Sustainable Hawai‘i, LLC.
“If we don’t acquire it, Dole will decommission the dam and spillway, which leaves the ag users with no water. Loss of small business. Loss of food security and all of that. If we do acquire, you know, it’s a dam. It’s a spillway. With the flooding we have” — which resulted after heavy rains last month and devastated North Shore neighborhoods and farms downstream — “I understand it’s a lot of peoples’ concern. But, the state has the ability to manage and it is a public health and safety matter. So it is most likely better to be within the state’s responsibility,” Yasaka said.
In 2023, the state Legislature passed Act 218, which authorized the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Agribusiness Development Corporation to acquire, improve and maintain the Wahiawā Irrigation System, which is co-owned by the two companies.
Act 218 allocated $26 million, $5 million to acquire the reservoir’s spillway from Sustainable Hawai‘i and $21 million to enlarge it and bring it into compliance with dam safety standards. Dole plans to donate its lands in and around the reservoir to the state.
For more than a decade, the ADC has been eyeing the reservoir as a source of irrigation water for its thousands of acres of agricultural fields in Central O’ahu, many of which were purchased from Dole. At the same time, the DLNR and its board had been trying to get Dole to improve the dam and its undersized spillway through enforcement actions and fines.
In April 2021, the Land Board found Dole in violation of rules requiring the dam spillway to be able to handle a probable maximum flood and fined the company $20,000 for “failing to submit a dam safety permit application to address the safety deficiencies with the spillway by the deadline of March 1, 2021. In addition, Dole and Sustainable Hawai‘i, Inc. were given two hundred seventy (270) calendar days from the date of the Board action to submit a plan to address the spillway safety deficiencies with a conceptual design for the spillway remediation,” according to a Land Division report to the board last month.
Following the board’s decision, a bill in the 2022 Legislature that would have the state acquire the Wahiawā Irrigation System passed but was vetoed by the governor.
Still, a 2022 quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Dole Hawai‘i’s parent company indicates that it did not anticipate spending any money to make the improvements the state had called for.
The report states, “In February of 2020, the state of Hawai‘i and Department of Land and Natural Resources provided notice to Dole of a deficiency in the spillway and embankment stability of a company-owned reservoir that requires mediation by 2025. Dole contracted a third party to perform an improvement study which resulted in an estimate of costs to modify the spillway of approximately $20.0 million. As the impacted reservoir is currently being actively marketed to potential buyers, the company does not deem a resulting loss from the contingency to be probable and, thus, has not recognized a liability in the consolidated balance sheets.”
Under Act 218, the acquisition must be completed by June 30. Otherwise, the act will be repealed on July 1. According to Yasaka, “We [the DLNR and ADC] have to sign and do everything together.”
The ADC was scheduled to entertain a request at its March 31 meeting to delegate authority to its executive director to negotiate terms of a transfer agreement to acquire the Wahiawā Irrigation System. That meeting, however, was cancelled.
In addition to recommending that the Land Board approve the land acquisition, the Land Division also asked that the board rescind a dam remediation schedule it had imposed in 2021, once the transfer of lands to the ADC was recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances.
When pressed by Land Board member Kaiwi Yoon on Dole’s dam remediation efforts following the board’s 2021 decision, Jared Gale, Dole’s chief legal officer, replied that the company’s efforts “went until Act 218 was passed.” He said that it didn’t make a lot of sense for Dole to start a project when the state would be acquiring the lands, so the remediation timelines were extended so the transfer could take place. If Act 218 were repealed, he added, “those timelines would kick back into effect.”
“I can say that we did comply with every step that was due before the deadlines were paused,” he said.
Cleanup
If and when the state acquires the lands, there will be a lot of cleaning up to do. Dole representatives tried to assure the Land Board last month that license agreement language ensures that its tenants will be on the hook for remediation costs on lands they occupy.
However, a bill in the Legislature would appropriate millions of dollars should the state somehow be stuck with the bill.
A Phase 1 environmental site assessment found many areas of concern, including “vagrant activities” on all of the parcels to be acquired.
“Because of the homeless populations and illegal dumping, there are areas in which there are some petroleum contamination,” Yasaka said.
The assessment also found “unlawful disposal and burning of waste materials, including hazardous/regulated substances, electronic waste, tires, and construction debris,” as well as stained soil.
On lands occupied by Dole tenant Agsalda Builders, Inc., unlabeled drums, petroleum products, hazardous substances, and hazardous waste were seen being improperly stored and/or released onto the ground, according to the Land Division report.
“Further, soil stockpiles from identified sources were present, along with an open burial pit,” it added.
Uses on another parcel, from the 1940s to 1980s, included auto sales and repair and gas, oil and tire services. These uses “may have resulted in the release of petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment [and] may have led to the release of heavy metals.” Improper storage of solid and hazardous waste was also seen on this parcel.
Two dozen soil samples taken from accessible areas under a limited Phase II environmental site assessment found hazardous chemicals and heavy metals.
“Several remedial actions are suggested, including reporting the contamination under state emergency laws, conducting an Environmental Hazard Evaluation, and preparing a removal action work plan to address and mitigate identified hazards. The report underscores the importance of ongoing monitoring and evaluation of contaminant migration, particularly pertaining to runoff affecting irrigation water quality in the region. Overall, the findings highlight the critical need for immediate actions to safeguard both public health and the environment surrounding Lake Wilson Reservoir,” the Land Division report states.
Following Yasaka’s presentation, board member Denise Iseri-Matsubara was clearly concerned about the remediation that will need to be done.
Yasaka said that work with state attorneys was going to “tighten up” language in Dole’s month-to-month tenant licenses.“They want more assurances to make surefunding is available,” she said.
With regard to the banks surroundingthe reservoir, because of the homeless population, the state “may have to do more investigation on those,” she added.
“Sounds like this is not going to occurprior to transfer,” Iseri-Matsubara said.
“We are prepared,” Yasaka replied. “We’re making sure there is funding available for that.”
“Has the area of potential effect been defined?” Yoon asked.
“Not thoroughly,” Yasaka replied, adding that funding was being sought to further delineate the area after acquisition.
“I’m just trying to ascertain … what would be the financial burden on the state,” Yoon later said. “In my experience, these things can be very costly. … We’re not talking about tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’re talking much greater than that.”
Gale noted that at least with regard to its tenants, they are obliged to hold at least $2 million in general liability insurance, which could cover cleanup costs.
On March 24, Gov. Josh Green proposed changes to his fiscal year 2027 supplemental budget to deal with the growing costs associated with the transfer, including a $4 million allocation to the DLNR’s Division of State Parks “for plans, design, and construction to conduct additional testing for contamination and environmental hazards; to implement remediation measures and debris clearing to
protect public health and safety; to ensure
compliance with Department of Health re-
quirements; and to perform related work at
Lake Wilson.”
“The funding mechanisms are to assume
the worst-case scenario … as a safety mea-
sure,” Yasaka told the board.
“Whatever the amount comes out to be
… the first thing is to have the licensee clean
up its mess,” Iseri-Matsubara said.
An Ag System
State Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity director Sharon Hurd and ADC executive director Wendy Gady both testified in support of the acquisition.
Hurd noted that while Dole had maintained the system until now, the recent storms showed that “it really does need to be maintained in a more current manner.”
Gady added that if the reservoir is decommissioned, 9,000 acres of agricultural land would be unusable, or farmers would have to pump groundwater, putting pressure on the aquifer.
“You are lucky if six months out of the year you have rain,” she said. A loss of farming in the area would increase the fire fuel load, she added.
In written testimony, she stated that the reservoir’s “continued availability for irrigation is essential to keeping surrounding agricultural lands in active production and supporting the state’s broader goals of increasing local food production and reducing reliance on imports. The irrigation systems serving these lands are directly interdependent with Lake Wilson [also known as the Wahiawā reservoir], relying on its stored water to provide consistent and reliable delivery. In turn, acres of Agribusiness Development Corporation lands currently in production depend on that consistency to sustain crops, maintain yields, and support local farmers.”
Public testimony, both written and oral, largely supported the acquisition.
In its testimony opposing the Land Division’s recommendations, the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i wrote, “While Act 218 authorizes this transfer, the board should not finalize it without a full, transparent accounting of the liability, cost, and public-safety implications that would shift from a private corporation to Hawai‘i taxpayers. … Why should Hawai‘i taxpayers assume Dole’s long-deferred maintenance, upgrades, and liability?”
Earlier in the meeting, Dole’s Gale contended that the company had only became aware of the contamination in its properties after the environmental site assessments were done, had not deferred any maintenance, and that it didn’t make sense to upgrade the dam when the state was interested in acquiring it at the same time Dole’s footprint in the area was shrinking.
In the end, after meeting in executive session, the board approved a motion by Iseri-Matsubra to approve the Land Division’s recommendations. Yoon was the sole dissenter.
In accordance with those recommendations, the board also issued a right-of-entry to the Division of State Parks, as well as a set-aside for the lands’ addition to the Wahiawā State Freshwater Recreation Area for park purposes.
— Teresa Dawson
For Further Reading
“Board of Ag and Biosecurity: ‘Ewa Feedlot, Wahiawā Dam Spillway Purchase,” October 2025;
“Dam Dilemma Clouds Possible Purchase Of Critical Water Source for ADC Lands,” and “ADC Agrees to Million-Dollar Settlement, Anticipates Big Ask For Irrigation Funds,” November 2023;
“Board Talk: Board Pre-Approves Fines to Spur Critical Fixes to Wahiawā Reservoir,” June 2022;
“New & Noteworthy: ADC; State Offices Reorganized,” August 2021;
“Agribusiness Corporation Eyes Effluent To Irrigate Former Galbraith Estate Lands,” October 2016;
“Bringing Water to Land ADC Acquired Near Whitmore Could Top $11 Million,” July 2015;
“Dam Safety Trumps Effluent Concerns at Central O‘ahu’s Wahiawā Reservoir,” August 2009.