Posted on: Friday, December 6, 2002
Dry land blessed with water
• Map of new rain catchment and reservoir system
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
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| Ceremonial offerings are left on a Kaho'olawe rain shrine during a wehe — a ritual that celebrates a new endeavor — in conjunction with the dedication of the new water catchment system on the island. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
| Making arid soil fertile again
Kaho'olawe's new rain catchment and reservoir system is designed to collect water for irrigation use at Luamakika, the highest point on the island. |
It is estimated that Kaho'olawe loses nearly 2 million tons of soil each year, much of it from the top third of the island where strong northeast trade winds batter an area crippled by nearly 200 years of overgrazing by animals.
Those days may soon be coming to an end.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser A traditional Hawaiian ceremony marked the completion of the commission's first major construction project. It comes less than a year before the Navy relinquishes administrative control of the island on Nov. 11, 2003.
With the new irrigation system in place, the plan is to accelerate efforts to bring back to life the hardpan landscape around the 1,477-foot summit of Luamakika, the eroded remnant of a volcanic crater and the island's highest point.
The commission also has adopted a plan outlining a long-term strategy for restoring plants, animals and natural waterways to the island used as a military bombing range for nearly 50 years.
The summit area — one of the first zones cleared of ordnance — is a region important to Kaho'olawe's history. There is a high concentration of historic sites near the Luamakika rim, and the once fertile soil, helped by water trapped in the crater, made it a center for agriculture in ancient times.
Spread over several acres, the newly constructed facilities consist of two 150,000-gallon tanks and a 100,000-gallon tank, a rain-collecting apron, a pump house and transmission pipes.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser Another problem was making the foundations shallow enough to avoid unexploded ordnance. Deepak Neupane, remediation project engineer, said a contractor was hired to clear the ground of ordnance underneath the foundation posts.
According to Kelly Chuck, project manager with Marc M. Siah & Associates in Honolulu, special care also was given during the design process to ensure that the structures have a minimal impact on archaeological and cultural sites.
At yesterday's ceremonies, Hawaiian cultural practitioners dedicated a ko'a, or shrine, that was built near the catchment for the purpose of bringing the rain. Another ceremony saw commissioners, staff and others pouring 'awa and spring water gathered from all parts of the state onto the new catchment surface.
The system has collected 25,000 gallons of water in the three weeks since construction was completed, Neupane said.
The Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission yesterday blessed its new $3 million rain catchment and reservoir system designed to restore vegetation to the island's summit region.
The $3 million rain catchment and reservoir system on Kaho'olawe has a capacity a 650,000 gallons. The Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission is hoping that the system will be able to stop erosion in the island's summit region. The area once was a center of agriculture but has been battered in recent years by erosion and overgrazing
The project's original cost was estimated at $1.5 million, but the final price tag was doubled because of logistical problems created by the remote location, said Keoni Fairbanks, the commission's executive director.
Hokulani Holt-Padilla arranges the ho'okupu left on the rain Ko'a in a wehe - a ceremony that opens the new endeavor - on Kahoolawe in conjunction with the dedication of the new water catchment system which is designed to collect 650,000 gals of water yearly.
