Lower Hamakua Ditch Watershed, island of Hawaii ($1,500,000)
The requested funding would be used to ensure and improve the agricultural water supply to small farmers and ranchers along the Hamakua Coast of the island of Hawaii.
This project was authorized in 1999 and is sponsored by the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
The project is needed to ensure and improve the agricultural water supply to small farmers and ranchers along the Hamakua Coast of the island of Hawaii. The goal of the project is to alleviate the shortage of agricultural water along the Hamakua Coast by providing a stable, adequate, and affordable supply through the Lower Hamakua Ditch. This will entail the repair of the ditch system (originally developed for a now-defunct sugarcane plantation), which includes 9 miles of tunnel and 14 miles of open ditch.
Since 2001, design and construction has resulted in the installation of 2 water storage reservoirs, 2 pipeline distribution laterals, repair or replacement of 31 flume structures, modification of 3 intake structures, realignment of Hakalaoa Falls Tunnel, and replacement of 2 historic flumes. Remaining construction elements include the repair of ditch linings, exclusion fencing, and on-farm land treatment practices. Damage to the Lower Hamakua Ditch sustained in the October 2006 magnitude 6.7 earthquake required emergency repairs, which supplanted improvement work by the watershed project in FY2007. The requested funds are for land treatment, ditch lining, exclusion fencing, and installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system.
Recipient: Natural Resources Conservation Service
P.O. Box 50004
Honolulu, HI 96850
Why this is a good use of taxpayer dollars: Water for livestock and irrigation is critical to diversified agriculture and Hawaii's food security.
