Big Island to order limits on water use
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — County officials are imposing restrictions on water use in Hamakua this weekend and are considering conservation notices for Hilo, engineers said yesterday.
A nearly yearlong drought has left much of the usually damp eastern coast of the Big Island with one-third to one-half of its normal rainfall.
Because Kukuihaele and Kapulena, both north of Honoka'a, rely directly on rain for surface water supplies, residents there will be the first to face a 25 percent reduction in water use. Legal notices are to be published Friday and Sunday.
Cattle rancher Jill Andrade, whose family has operated the Andrade Slaughterhouse in Ahualoa for three generations, figures the worst is yet to come.
She and her father, John Andrade, 83, have almost 300 head of cattle on 750 acres they lease from Kamehameha Schools on former cane land near Kapulena. They are worried there won't be enough rainfall to keep their pastures green and their cattle watered.
"We are going to be in deep trouble if this keeps up," Andrade said. "We all need water now."
The slaughterhouse, which processes 150 to 200 cattle per month, relies on water from Waimea and is not immediately threatened by the drought.
County water engineer Daryl Ikeda said water problems are not confined to Hamakua, which recently went through three weeks of water restrictions due to a pump failure at the Haina well. Water conservation advisories could extend through all of Hilo in a short time, Ikeda said, because "we are stretching the system."
The drought is causing pump problems at Pi'ihonua, upslope of Hilo, and at Pana'ewa to the east, according to Ikeda.
"We are close to overtaxing our ability," he said, adding that Hilo residents should expect water conservation notices shortly demanding a 10 percent cutback.
In addition, supplies in Papa'ikou, north of Hilo, are showing drought stress, he said.
Despite an all-time high in rainfall in November, when flooding causing millions of dollars of damage, the Big Island has not matched its average rainfall the past three years.
So far this year, Hilo rainfall is at 63 percent of the normal amount. For the first 10 days of July, it has been 18 percent of the normal total.
Figures are worse on the Hilo-Hamakua coast, where Laupahoehoe received 39.7 inches of rain in the first six months of 2001, less than half the normal amount, and Honoka'a registered just 19.8 inches, also less than half the usual total.
Figures for Kapulena and Kukuihaele, where volunteers keep track of rainfall, were not available yesterday.
In Honoka'a, Fire Capt. Mike Matsui said the drought appears to have worsened in each of the seven years he has watched over the area.
"The (makai areas) are very dry," he said. The cattle ranches keep the grass low in some of the former canefield areas, but Matsui regards the dry terrain, overall, as challenging for firefighting crews.
Water officials in Waimea, which has seen its reservoirs expanded in recent years, said the region is doing well and is providing some irrigation water to upslope Hamakua areas.
North Hawai'i water supervisor William Yamamoto said that after 30 years, he believes "every year is a little more dry."
In addition to the two areas facing water restrictions, he is concerned about Makapala in North Kohala, which also relies on surface water.
The Kona region relies on deep-well sources that are not as susceptible to drought, and no water restrictions are expected there.
