Posted on: Thursday, March 18, 2004

Twin falls to regain full flow

Advertiser Staff

HILO, Hawai'i — Kamehameha Schools expects to finally end the diversion of water to Lalakea Ditch above Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island next month, restoring the full flow over the famous 900-foot Hi'ilawe twin falls.

The state Commission on Water Resource Management yesterday approved the schools' request to abandon the ditch, which would return about 2.5 million gallons a day to the falls.

Lalakea and Hakalaoa streams flow over the cliff at the top of Waipi'o, creating the famous twin falls known to some as Hi'ilawe and Hakalaoa falls. The falls converge to form Hi'ilawe Stream, one of two main waterways through the valley.

Hamakua Sugar Co. diverted water from Hakalaoa in 1989 to make emergency repairs to a tunnel system that irrigated the company's sugar fields. The diversion reduced the twin falls to one, but the company never obtained the necessary permits.

The sugar company went bankrupt in 1993 without restoring the falls, and the issue became Kamehameha Schools' problem when the trust bought the land at the diversion site along with other company property in 1994.

Waipi'o Valley farmer Christopher Rathbun filed a complaint over the issue in 1995, and Earthjustice filed a complaint with the water commission in 1998 on behalf of the Waipi'o Valley Community Association.