The Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) seems willing to do almost anything to get its proposed pumped storage hydropower project along West Kaua‘i’s Koke‘e ditch system built.
While not an original party to the water waste complaint and petition to amend interim instream flow standards filed in July 2013 by the community group Po‘ai Wai Ola/West Kaua‘i Watershed Alliance, the utility turned out to play a significant role in their final resolution.
In its filings with the state Commission on Water Resource Management, Po‘ai Wai Ola, represented by Earthjustice, called for the state Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) and its tenant co-op, the Kekaha Agriculture Association (KAA), to stop wasting diverted stream water and also sought amendments to the interim instream flow standards of Waimea River and its tributaries.
Those tributaries, once diverted by the Kekaha and Koke‘e ditches to provide irrigation water to the former Kekaha sugar plantation, now provide water to the ADC’s tenants, which include diversified agriculture farmers as well as some of the state’s largest seed companies.
An investigation by a contractor for the commission found that much of the water diverted in recent years was not used for agriculture but was instead used to power a hydropower plant. Excess water was dumped onto the ground.
KIUC, which has long been pursuing a pumped storage hydropower project using a portion of the Koke‘e ditch and reservoirs owned by the state, participated in the petition/complaint negotiations once the commission hired Robbie Alm to facilitate mediation among ADC, KAA, and Po‘ai Wai Ola. The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which owns property served by the Koke‘e Ditch system and has rights to some of the water, was also admitted as a party.
Under a mediated agreement approved by the Water Commission on April 18, KIUC will shoulder the cost of installing and maintaining monitoring systems that will track in real time the amount of diverted stream water entering and exiting Koke‘e Ditch at certain spots.
The utility will also be responsible for modifying diversions along Koke‘e Ditch to ensure perpetual, mauka-makai stream flow that provides for the migration of both adult and larval forms of aquatic life and minimizes entrainment of native species. The utility must file modification plans with the commission within four and a half months of the agreement’s signing. Work must begin within 45 days of final required approvals.
Similar conditions apply to ADC and KAA with regard to the Kekaha Ditch system, although they must file modification plans much sooner — within 45 days of the agreement’s signing. Under the agreement, a minimum of 6 million gallons (mgd) a day of water must flow in the Kekaha Ditch at all times, measured at the Hukipo flume.
If KIUC doesn’t obtain commitments from the ADC and DHHL that are necessary for its hydro project in a timely manner, KIUC may withdraw from its commitments under the watershed agreement; responsibility to modify Koke‘e Ditch and to monitor flows in and out of it will fall to ADC/ KAA. If the utility fails to officially withdraw from the agreement within 100 days of signing, it must proceed with its promised modifications regardless of whether or not it secures its necessary commitments.
If KIUC succeeds in getting its energy project built, it will be allowed to receive a rolling average of 11 mgd from the Koke‘e Ditch system to support its pumped storage hydro project and DHHL’s water needs (an estimated 7 mgd), assuming that instream flow standards are met first.
Under the agreement, stream restoration will occur in two phases, with Phase 1 beginning immediately. In this phase, the existing natural flow in Koke‘e Stream will be allowed to flow past Koke‘e Ditch. The combined flows for three other streams diverted by the Koke‘e system — Kauaikinana, Kawaikoi, and Waiakoali — will total about 7 mgd.
For the Kekaha ditch system, the flow standards will be 2 mgd for Koaie stream, 8 mgd for Waimea stream below the Waiahulu diversion and 25 mgd at a U.S. Geological Survey meter.
Phase 2 occurs once KIUC completes its renewable energy project. Under Phase 2, the existing natural flow in Koke‘e Stream will be permitted to flow past Koke‘e Ditch except for flows greater than 1.2 mgd, in which case the flow standard is set at 1.2 mgd. Flow standards for the other three streams diverted by Koke‘e Ditch would total 5.4 to 5.8 mgd, depending on total stream flows. KIUC would be allowed to use any excess water for its project.
The agreement makes clear that “no diversion will ever be a total diversion again” and that even if water is needed for other beneficial uses, such as agriculture or renewable energy, “the health of the stream must be preserved at all times.”
— Teresa Dawson