Gov. Josh Green signed a bill Wednesday that requires his office to negotiate the purchase of Wahiawā Dam, Lake Wilson, and its associated spillways and irrigation ditches.
The new law, Act 218, also appropriates $26 million to purchase, repair and maintain the system.
Dole Plantation originally put the infrastructure up for sale after receiving fines for not properly maintaining the dam. A similar bill to purchase the irrigation system was vetoed last year by former Gov. David Ige.
“This is vital for supplying water to farmers in Wahiawā, Wailua, and Haleʻiwa, as well as for recreational users,” said Sen. Mike Gabbard, chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment.
“It's critical that the state takes ownership and maintenance of this valuable resource. If not, who knows who the buyer would be and what it would be used for in the future,” Gabbard added.
Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto said that, had the state decided not to purchase the system, decommissioning it would have come at a great cost to the farming community.
And if some other entity did purchase it, legislators would have to ask whether the buyers "support farming… will they give [farmers] the water and at what cost,” Miyamoto said.
The measure includes two appropriations to the Department of Agriculture: $5 million to acquire a fee simple interest in the spillway and $21 million to repair and expand it.
“We’re vulnerable when we’re not food secure. It's evident that we have to infuse our industry with resources for water, we have to make sure we can expand the sector,” Green said. “We never go far enough in my opinion, but this is a start of a commitment.”
Green signed a number of other bills related to agriculture on Wednesday, including HB 692 to increase the maximum penalties for violators of the Hawaiʻi pesticides law, SB 1552 to appropriate funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to support the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab, and more.
