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HB781
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
781
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to the Waiahole Water System
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
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SECTION
1.
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The legislature finds that the
Waiahole water system transports water from the Koolau mountain range on the
windward side of Oahu to Kunia, on the leeward side of the island.
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Construction began in February 1916, and the
finished system began delivering water by May 27, 1916.
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The total system length is 26.4 miles,
consisting of fifteen miles of tunnels, ten miles of open ditches, and 1.4
miles of siphons.
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The system travels
from Kahana to Kunia entirely by gravity flow.
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The Waiahole water system includes development tunnels, built to collect
water from the Koolau mountains, that are connected to the main transmission
tunnel.
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Seven siphons carry the water
across gulches on the leeward side of the system.
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The Waiahole water system also includes two
reservoirs.
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The first, reservoir 225, is
on the east side of Kunia highway and holds 9,500,000 gallons.
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The second, reservoir 155 -- renamed the
Nakatani reservoir, is at the end of the system and holds 14,010,000
gallons.
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Throughout the system, gauging stations
are installed and designed to measure water collected in the Koolau mountains.
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One of the gauging stations is called adit 8
and is in critical need of repair.
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Until
the demise of the sugar industry on Oahu during the mid-1990s, the system was
continuously owned and operated by Waiahole Irrigation Company, Limited, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Oahu Sugar Company, Limited.
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Pursuant to Act 111, Session Laws of Hawaii
1998 (Act 111), the agribusiness development corporation purchased the assets
of the Waiahole Irrigation Company, Limited, from Amfac/JMB Hawaii Limited for
$8,500,000 in July 1999.
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Furthermore, pursuant
to Act 111, the legislature appropriated $1,200,000 in reimbursable general
obligation bonds to replace the system
'
s
three deteriorated redwood siphons.
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Today, the ditch is known as the Waiahole water system and is actively
managed and operated by the agribusiness development corporation.
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The
Waiahole water system serves approximately 5,600 acres of land in central and
leeward Oahu, of which approximately eighty-six per cent is in active
agricultural use at any given time.
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In
addition to state-owned lands, Waiahole water system users occupy land owned by
Kamehameha Schools; Castle & Cooke Land Company, Ltd.; M.A. Robinson Trusts;
and the James Campbell Company.
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Currently, agricultural users include Aloun Farms, the Hawaii
Agriculture Research Center, Larry Jefts Farm, Mililani Nursery, Mililani
Agricultural Park, Sugarland Farms, Waiawa Nursery, Waikele Farms, and
livestock ranchers.
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Non-agricultural
users include Mililani Memorial Park.
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Other users include Waiawa correctional facility, and its uses are
approximately twenty-five per cent agricultural and seventy-five per cent
non-agricultural.
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In
2000, the Waiahole water system contributed $95,000,000 to and created roughly two
thousand jobs for the state economy.
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This
figure accounted for fifty-one per cent of total crops, livestock, and
aquaculture sales for the city and county of Honolulu.
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It was concluded that directly and
indirectly, for every $1 increase in final demand for Hawaii
'
s agriculture products from the
Waiahole water system, the output in Hawaii
'
s overall economy increased by $1.94.
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According to the department of agriculture
'
s report in October 2012 titled
"Assessment of Irrigation Systems in Hawaii", the Waiahole water
system contributed $135,000,000 and two thousand jobs to the state economy in
2012.
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Waiahole
water system users have gradually increased the efficiency with which they use water,
so water usage has decreased over time.
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Moreover, users were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The current agricultural water rate is 99.850
cents per 1,000 gallons.
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Comparable area
rates for agricultural water include the board of water supply's and department
of agriculture's average agricultural rate of 50 cents per 1,000 gallons.
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As of October 2024, the farmers using the Waiahole
water system had paid $9,754,417.90 toward the $8,500,000 bond, totaling
thirteen per cent more than the original bond amount.
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These costs are passed on to consumers,
resulting in higher food prices.
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Currently, forty per cent of all revenue is used to service the
principal and interest debt.
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The balance
to pay off the debt is $4,500,000 and would result in farmers and consumers
paying $14,000,000 in debt service fees.
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The
legislature further finds that repairs to the adit 8 tunnel have been delayed
as long as possible and have reached a critical point in needing $2,000,000 in
design and construction of deferred maintenance repairs.
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All water from the Waiahole water system must
pass through the adit 8 tunnel.
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Therefore,
the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the agribusiness development
corporation to fully pay off the bond debt service on the Waiahole water system
and repair the adit 8 tunnel.
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SECTION
2.
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There is appropriated out of the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $4,500,000 or so much
thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 to pay the bond debt
service on the Waiahole water system.
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The sum
appropriated shall be expended by the agribusiness development corporation for
the purposes of this Act.
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SECTION
3.
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There is appropriated out of the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,000,000 or so much
thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 for the repair of the adit
8 tunnel of the Waiahole water system.
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The sum
appropriated shall be expended by the agribusiness development corporation for
the purposes of this Act.
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SECTION 4.
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This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
Waiahole
Water System; Bond Debt Service; Tunnel Repair; Appropriations
Description:
Appropriates
funds for the Waiahole Water System for bond debt service and tunnel repair.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.