HILO, Hawai'i — The state-owned Hamakua Ditch and Waimea Ditch together suffered an estimated $12 million in damage in the Oct. 15 earthquakes, and it isn't clear how much time the state has to make repairs before farmers and ranchers suffer losses from a lack of water.

Brian Kau, administrator and chief engineer of the state agriculture resource management division, said that damage estimate is preliminary because agriculture officials still haven't been able to reach some parts of the ditch systems to conduct close inspections.

The Waimea farmers are currently drawing water from three reservoirs.

However, some of the 175 ranchers and farmers that rely on the 24-mile Hamakua Ditch are already without water after landslides buried two of the system's water intakes, Kau said. The ditch delivers water to 4,755 acres of farms and ranches.

Kau said he isn't sure how much longer the state will be able to supply water to the rest of the Hamakua farmers through the damaged system. "If it rains, quite a bit longer," he said. "If we enter into another prolonged dry spell, not very long."

If the farmers on the two systems suffer losses, that likely will affect produce and beef prices on the Big Island, Kau said.

Meanwhile, homeowners and businesses on the Big Island continued with repairs and cleanups, as county officials reported collecting an extra 200 tons of trash in the days following the earthquakes.

The county plans to prepare a five-acre area in Pu'uanahulu to sort the earthquake debris and intercept rubbish such as shattered televisions before the broken appliances are deposited in the nearby county landfill, said Barbara Bell, director of the county Department of Environmental Management.

Bell said her crews collected about 100 broken televisions at the Hawi transfer station alone in the days after the earthquake, and gathered up another 80 at transfer stations at Puako and Waimea. The sets were discarded at county rubbish transfer stations after they were shaken onto the floors of Big Island homes during the magnitude 6.7 and 6.0 earthquakes.

SAFETY ZONES

To protect people, the Department of Land and Natural Resources yesterday created ocean and land safety zones within Kealakekua Bay that will be closed to the public.

The earthquakes did more than $100 million in damage to roads, schools, businesses and public facilities. Damage to private homes is not included in that estimate. Red Cross officials report the earthquakes destroyed 40 homes, seriously damaged 215 and lightly damaged 719.

The earthquakes damaged three earthen storage reservoirs on the Waimea and Hamakua ditch systems, although the damage to the reservoirs does not pose a threat of a breach, Kau said.

The earthquakes also buried two water intakes on the Hamakua ditch and four water intakes on the Waimea ditch.

Open sections of the ditch on both systems were also blocked by landslides, and a "major portion" of the access trail used to repair and maintain the 16-mile Waimea ditch collapsed, he said.

Some water users on the Hamakua system are still able to tap water from a 10 million-gallon reservoir, but not all have access to that water, Kau said.

"I would say we have 40 customers who have possible impacts down on the Hamakua end," he said. "If this thing gets dragged out too much longer, that number will rise as the reservoir goes down."

WAIMEA SYSTEM

The 100 water users on the Waimea system are able to draw on the system's reservoirs and a well for their needs, he said.

In North Kohala, the earthquakes also did major damage to the privately owned Kohala ditch, which was delivering water to about 40 more farming operations.

The state Board of Agriculture this week approved an emergency low-interest loan program for farmers who suffer losses because of the earthquake. The program will offer loans of up to $500,000 at 3 percent interest, and the department has a fast-track program to rapidly process loans of less than $25,000, said Dean Matsukawa, agricultural loan administrator for state Department of Agriculture.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.