Wahiawā Dam Takeover: Hawaii Agency Signs Off On Acquisition

Directors of the Hawaiʻi Agribusiness Development Corp. have approved the $4.9 million purchase of the remaining land to acquire the 120-year-old Wahiawā dam and spillway, part of a larger deal by the state to acquire an irrigation system that runs from Wahiawā to the North Shore.

Once the purchase is complete, the state will have to make the hazardous dam safe and restore the Wahiawā reservoir and miles of irrigation lines, likely costing tens of millions of dollars.

Directors unanimously voted on Wednesday to acquire the dam — and buy the land on which it sits — from Sustainable Hawaiʻi LLC and purchase the surrounding area owned by Dole Food Co. The decision edged the state closer to finalizing the complex, multi-agency transaction for more than 140 acres of land before a June 30 deadline.

The dam and land takeover follows more than a decade of Dole failing to address shortcomings in the plantation-era structure’s safety standards. The state entered negotiations in 2023 with the multinational corporation, which has a net worth of almost $1.5 billion, after it said it could not afford the necessary repairs.

The $4.9 million purchase is not the final step. The state still has more negotiations to conduct with Dole to take over land near the spillway. The Department of Land and Natural Resources has already agreed to take over the Wahiawā Reservoir, also known as Lake Wilson.

Last month’s Kona storms highlighted the dam’s perilous state, when record rains filled Wahiawā Reservoir to three feet below its brim, triggering the evacuation of thousands of downstream residents on the North Shore. The earthen dam has the second-lowest federal safety rating and the highest hazard rating, meaning that if it fails, thousands of people are at risk. Dole has said community concerns were overwrought.

Directors spent a significant portion of the meeting hashing out the true cost of restoring and managing the system to ensure the agency has enough money for the project. They were also especially concerned about the management of the infrastructure moving forward, as their deadline looms, with ADC’s current staffing levels.

“Come July 1, this is going to be your responsibility, and the life and property,” board chair Jayson Watts said.

The price tag for repairs and remediation has already increased threefold since lawmakers appropriated $21 million for negotiations with Dole in 2023. Gov. Josh Green last month asked the Legislature to pony up an additional $43 million for the work to improve the dam and spillway. The funding will also support environmental remediation work around the reservoir, though “we don’t know what the magnitude of that is,” ADC senior executive assistant Mark Takemoto told the board Wednesday.

Takemoto said environmental studies have found evidence of lead and fuel on the lands the state is acquiring.

But, he later added, “we haven’t found anything there that we think should stop the board’s process,” he said. “As staff, we’d make the recommendation to move forward … It’s of benefit to the state to acquire.”

Dole estimates restoration of the system itself will cost $35 million, with an annual $2.5 maintenance and operation bill.

“There’s no big ticket, hidden repairs coming,” Trisha Kehaulani Watson, one of Dole’s consultants, told the board.

The acquisition includes two smaller reservoirs downhill of the dam and spillway, in similarly poor condition, and about 25 miles of irrigation lines currently feeding about 9,500 acres with 5 billion gallons annually.

A Money Maker?

If the system is restored to its former glory, according to Dole, it may be a money maker for the state. The irrigation water currently brings in about $1 million annually, and lawmakers have identified hydropower generation as a potential addition to the system.

“It’s not just an expense. There’s really potential for the system to be self-sustaining and to bring in revenue,” Dole consultant Watson told the board.

In fact, she said Dole may be one of the state’s paying customers in the future. The irrigation system feeds more than 2,600 acres of Dole agricultural land adjacent to its famed plantation and pineapple maze.

Miles of the system’s irrigation lines have fallen into disrepair. If restored, they could water up to 17,000 acres through the irrigation system, which could bring in revenue. There are plans to increase water quality in the system, Takemoto of ADC said, because it currently only distributes nonpotable agricultural water.

The agribusiness corporation’s purchase is the final piece of the multiagency acquisition. The agency will transfer its ownership to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity for the repairs which, once complete, will then transfer it back to the agribusiness agency.

The transaction is even more complicated due to the current ownership of the system, which includes Sustainable Hawaiʻi LLC, owned by local attorney Howard Greene. Directors agreed to purchase Greene’s 142.5 acres, on which the dam and spillway sits, for $4.9 million. Dole has already agreed to donate its interest in the land to the state.

The vote on Wednesday clears the way for the agribusiness agency to enter final negotiations with Dole and Sustainable Hawaii to hash out an agreement. Takemoto told the directors that ADC staff will likely come back to the board in May to ask for final approval of the terms.

A Long History

The state’s interest in the dam was almost purely agricultural before the Kona storms. It had shown some interest as Dole looked for a buyer, as far back as the late 1990s, with residents concerned a private owner would inflate the water costs for farmers, among other things. Lawmakers decided in 2023 the state was the best custodian of the dam and Lake Wilson.

Former agribusiness corporation head James Nakatani expressed interest in the dam in the early 2000s. However, the state land and environmental agency took some convincing. Former DLNR directors took the view that Lake Wilson was a poison chalice rather than “a gift,” as Dole has long framed the transfer, given how much it would cost to rehabilitate.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, whose district includes Wahiawā, has also shown interest over time, in part because of the potential for hydroelectric power generation.

Last month, some Board of Land and Natural Resources members highlighted that the system was not built to help control floods, while board member Wes Yoon – the only member to vote against the transfer – criticized Dole for not adhering to remediation that was planned before the Legislature moved to buy the dam.

The board still voted to acquire the reservoir.

Reporter Blaze Lovell contributed to this story.

This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.