WAIMANALO — A $400,000 program to reduce erosion from agriculture land is seeking growers who can benefit from expert advice that will lead to cleaner streams.

The project will help growers to create drainage plans and designs to control the flow of water that carries sediment and nutrients to two major streams in Waimanalo. Samples will be taken and the worst areas prioritized, said Jean Brokish, watershed coordinator for O'ahu Resource Conservation & Development Council.

"It's not a project to pinpoint or blame anybody," Brokish said. "We're just trying to figure out what's going on, where's the problem and what are the opportunities to reduce pollution."

The Waimanalo and Kahawai streams are considered impaired waterways, which are waters that are too polluted or otherwise degraded to meet water quality standards. Waimanalo Stream was identified in 1996 as a highly impaired waterway and given priority for watershed-based water quality improvement management actions.

Since then, a series of studies, cleanups and projects has been conducted within that watershed.

The Waimanalo Stream Restoration and Community Outreach project is a Department of Health proposal funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act. O'ahu Resource Conservation & Development Council, a local nonprofit group that works to improve agriculture practices, is carrying out the project. It expects to spend $200,000 directly for the project, Brokish said.

Frank Sekiya, owner and operator of Frankie's Nursery, understands the value of proper drainage.

His hillside nursery in the back of Waimanalo had the potential for disaster. But with the help of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service — previously known as the Soil Conservation Service — a series of drainage swales and erosion control through plantings has resulted in only clean water flowing from his seven-acre nursery, Sekiya said.

A recognized nursery man, Sekiya said the measures he took in the past are paying off now with a healthy nursery.

But he couldn't have done it alone.

"I didn't have any knowledge of soil conservation and erosion control and they devised everything," he said. "They made these topography maps ... decided how to divert the water ... and paid for about 75 percent of the project."

Sekiya will host an informational field day at his nursery on Sept. 17 so growers can learn more about the program.

Sekiya once again needs soil conservation services -this time on an eight-acre fruit orchard down the road from his nursery, where erosion is undermining his fence. He has been working with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Services and the local Resource Conservation & Development Council to develop a plan.

The Natural Resources Conservation Services spends about $350,000 a year to help farmers, ranchers and nurserymen, said Chad Kacir, O'ahu district conservationist. The two agencies dovetail and have different sources of money, but their goals are similar, Kacir said.

Help could take a while because problems have to be identified, a plan must be created and then money is requested, Kacir said. The 2009 contracts have just finished and it could be a year before new money is available.

"You may not want to wait that long but if all you need is technical assistance, I can give you that free of charge anytime," Kacir said.

Resource Conservation & Development can also help with expertise and share as much as 75 percent of the cost for the Waimanalo project, Brokish said, adding that she hopes to help other growers with plans and money to implement erosion control plans.

"It's one thing to have a piece of paper, to say you have a plan. But if you don't have the resources to install or implement any practices it's not doing any good," she said. "We look at this as an incentive to install these practices and ultimately the watershed wins, the community wins."