The public has until Jan. 22 to comment on a proposed $4.5 million Board of Water Supply rockfall mitigation project intended to shore up the steep slopes beneath the city's well station in Waimalu.

Depending on the outcome of the public comment process, work on the first phase of the project could begin as soon as spring.

BWS spokeswoman Wanda Yamane said the entire plan is still in the proposal stage. She said it was initiated because runoff from heavy rains had caused rockfalls and flooding on properties below the slopes. The runoff had also exposed loose rocks on the hillsides.

"The comment deadline is to receive comment on both Phase 1 and Phase 2," said Yamane. "So we are projecting the start of construction in the spring of 2008. But that will depend on what kind of comments we get back."

In 2005, the BWS did temporary emergency rock removal on the slopes.

The agency's two-phase rockfall mitigation proposal is an effort to provide a long-term solution, said Yamane.

The yearlong Phase I would construct drainage improvements that would divert surface runoff away from the slopes to decrease erosion and ease flooding risks.

Although no timetable for Phase II work has been established, Yamane said it calls for the installation of a wire mesh drapery system over the slopes to lessen the chance of rockfalls. Precisely how that work will be done and when it will begin will be influenced by public comment on the proposal.

The total cost of both phases is expected to be $4.5 million.

Bill Clark, who chairs the Waimalu Neighborhood Board, said he has heard no complaints about the plan.

"It's a Board of Water Supply initiative that's intended to make sure that stuff doesn't happen — to mitigate possible rockslides, in other words," said Clark.

Clark said that when the issue was discussed by the board recently he heard no opposition to the measure.

"We put it on the agenda because it did affect the people in the area," said Clark. "There was no hue and cry about it. We had a description of it, and the board had no objections to it happening."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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