JANUARY 2015


"Adopt the pace of nature:
her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
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KRCA Homeowners
Board of Directors Meeting

Wednesday, February 25, 2015
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Kilauea Neighborhood Center

Kalihiwai Ridge homeowners can find official minutes to KRCA Board of Directors meetings by setting up their own Account Log In at
www.associaonline.com.  They can assist you in getting your 7 digit homeowner number.  After you have that you will then need to set up a User Name and Password.  You can also set up having the Agenda to these meetings sent to you by e-mail the day before the meetings are held every month.


My Impressions

Our Annual Meeting was held last night and it was awesome.  We had a quorum with a good turn out.  Time to say Aloha to neighbors you don't see so often.  Bob gave an opening speech and brought everyone up to date about knowing some of the work being done on the dam with the monthly summary written report in the member packets.  I will be adding the Dam Committee Meeting Minutes to the Associa website for sharing the process in more detail of how we are working together to get things done in a timely way.

Two new board members were elected.  Larry Lau has retired from being the Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawaii for over 25 years and we are lucky he wants to make Kalihiwai Ridge his home where he has owned property since 1992, also believing in community service.  He is our new Vice President to back up Bob in the year ahead.  Bert Lyon is a retired CPA continuing on as our Treasurer with the 2015 budget approved last night at the meeting by the membership.  Jim Gair continues on the Dam Committee as our Project Manager to help get things done on the dam.  Parker Croft steps down after serving on the board for four years, but will continue serving on the Anaina Hou Board as Vice Chair and of course running his family farm.  I include here the list of the 2015 KRCA Board of Directors:

Bob Butler, President 2017 - EH Committee
Larry Lau, Vice President 2018
Maggie Lea, Secretary 2017 - Dam Committee, EH Committee
Bert Lyon, Treasurer 2018 - Dam Committee
John Donatoni, Director 2016 - Dam Committee, EH Committee
Skylar Brown, Director 2016
Dan Shook, Director 2017

As to the dam progress we are seeing a way forward to fix the Outlet Works #2 by DLNR allowing us to place new non-manned sandbags so the lake can hold 15', remove the metal plates, open up and clear the outflow ditch and install a railed footbridge for pedestrian access to the spillway.  Once the upstream slope has been re-compacted and we receive a refilling plan from our engineers at Arcadis we can finally fill the lake to full pool 15' for the first time in two years, last seen in March 2013.   The Seepage Study can continue on for 3-4 months of weekly readings into July, if the lake has filled by March from our more predictable winter rains.  My hope is the lake can finally stay full until we go into construction of the wider spillway and repair of the embankments, done all at the same time probably in late 2017-18. 

I understand the level will have to come down to 13' during a major storm event to cover any possible free board until we have an adequate spillway for the 100 year PMF when we won't have to worry about this anymore, but there is no reason the lake can't be allowed back up to 15' after the storm has passed as was the case all the years prior to 2011, especially once the Outlet Works #2 is repaired.  What we have seen in the last 41 months is the lake is not allowed to come back up for a variety of reasons.  With a potential 3 year remediation plan ahead I feel it is too much to ask of our KRCA community to settle for less at this stage when they have already only had a full or semi-full lake for 10 months out of the last 3 1/2 years. 

We have the legal water rights for recreation, plus an ethical responsibility to preserve a federally listed wetland habitat as a sanctuary for our endangered Hawaiian water birds who live and breed on our shorelines.  There is only adequate vegetative cover for their nurture and ongoing breeding with a full pool lake at 15', not to mention the amazing aesthetics of the lake itself when it is at full pool 15'.  And what about the fish?  I was out this morning throwing more of the dead fish into the brush at lakeside with our lake so low, without enough oxygen it only increases the bacteria in the water to kill the fish and the birds.  Let's remedy this.  We can bring the lake back up very soon so that our 5' needs are met as well, meaning a win win for everyone involved! 

On a more positive note the access road is completed and is a wonderful pedestrian trail and authorized vehicle access leading to the lake and eventually to what will perhaps be a one acre grassy spillway.  There are now views from the cleared dam of the distant ocean and more views will be eventually seen of the ridge itself and the Kalihiwai River below when the project is completed sometime in 2018, if not sooner.  Designing this spillway to allow for the 15' lake level is our next task after the final Seepage & Stability Study is reported on this summer or fall.  We know our embankments need to be repaired to a 2.5-3:1 slope for easier mowing maintenance and in March the Stability Study will be completed to help us know about this need in more detail.

Life continues on, ever changing for the better is my motto.  I certainly look forward to seeing the lake full again and some of you out on the dam in the year ahead, sometime in March for sure when we get most of our predictable rain to fill the lake.  There are two new benches out there just waiting for you...

Until we meet again.

Aloha,
Maggie Lea





Suggested Readings:
Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation in Hawai`i: 2012
Reference:  Commission on Water Resource Management
Click here to download PDF file

Koamalu Volumes 1&2
by Ethel M Damon, 1931
A story of pioneers on Kauai and of what they built in that island garden

Sugar Water by Carol Wilcox 1996
Hawaiian & English definitions from the book:
wai - water, blood, passion, life
wai wai - wealth
pani wai - dam
water - transparent, odorless, tasteless, liquid, H2O

Wetland habitat non-invasive plant suggestions:
bacopa, makaloa, carex, aka 'akai, neke
kupukupu, laua'e


Links:

Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge
www.fws.gov/hanalei

Kauai Forest Birds Recovery Project
www.kauaiforestbirds.org 

Sounds Hawaiian
www.soundshawaiian.com/birds

National Wildlife Federation
www.nwf.org

Kalihiwai Reservoir is a
Certified Wildlife Habitat

Ducks Unlimited
www.ducksunlimited.com

Fishing Notes
www.fishingnotes.com

Hawaii Audubon Society
www.hawaiiaudubon.com

Sierra Club Hawaii
www.sierraclubhawaii.com




Sufi at the helm of Moe Moku