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Hawaii’s state land board voted Friday to acquire irrigation lands from Dole Food Co., a step that will allow the state to take over the Wahiawa Dam north of Honolulu after a failure scare during last week’s flood evacuations. The vote clears the way for the state to move forward on repairs and an expansion of the spillway, with the plan including at least $20 million for the work.
The Wahiawa Dam, an earthen structure built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Co. that later became a Dole subsidiary, was reconstructed after a collapse in 1921. State officials have said the dam is a “high hazard” structure because a failure would likely have fatal consequences, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources recommendation that accompanied the land board vote.
Last week’s storm pushed water levels up quickly as heavy rains fell on already-saturated earth, authorities said, prompting evacuations from two communities on Oahu’s North Shore. Kathleen Pahinui, who was among the roughly 5,500 people ordered to evacuate, said residents worry the dam could fail during each substantial rain, and she described Friday’s vote as a welcome development. Evacuation orders were lifted Saturday after floodwater receded, she said.
The land board’s action followed Dole’s proposal to donate the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state. The company offered the transfer at no cost, in exchange for an agreement for the state to repair the spillway to meet and maintain dam safety standards, according to the company’s statement reported after the vote.
In support of the takeover, Pahinui and other residents told the board that state ownership could reassure the community while repairs and improvements are carried out. Pahinui said state control has long had backing from the governor’s office, lawmakers, neighbors and farmers, and she said residents would continue to monitor the progress of fixes after the transfer.
Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could top $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, homes and a Maui hospital. Pahinui said cleaning up from thick mud that oozed into homes and waters that lifted houses and vehicles could take years.
The record of safety issues and enforcement also weighed on the discussion. The state has sent Dole four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009, and five years ago the state fined the company $20,000 for failing to address safety deficiencies on time, according to records. Dole Chief Legal Officer Jared Gale told the land board Friday that the fines were tied to missed deadlines for submitting paperwork and not to maintenance, and he said Dole has maintained the dam and spillway “very well” over the years.
Not all board members agreed on the deal. Wesley “Kaiwi” Yoon was the only land board member to vote against the acquisition, expressing reservations about whether the state could bear the costs and about Dole’s history of plantation-era colonization. “If the state is going to endure this and partner with Dole, who again has a checkered past and issue with its Native community and what it’s done to aina over time, it’s very difficult to be so nonchalant about this issue,” Yoon said, using the Hawaiian word for “land.”
A Dole consultant, Trisha Kehaulani Watson-Sproat, told the board that as a Native Hawaiian who grew up near the dam, she supports the state takeover as “the best way forward,” saying the alternative would be for Dole to decommission the dam. “I call it the decolonizing of this watershed system,” she said.