KRCA Board of Directors
Homeowners Meeting:
Date TBA @ 6:30 PM
Kilauea Neighborhood Center

KRCA has contracted with Hawaiiana Management Company who has a Kalihiwai Ridge website access code of:
hmcmgt.com/39484

Agendas and meeting minutes will be posted on this new site along with all our documents that can now be reviewed by the public.




My Impressions

The Kalihiwai Reservoir is losing water by the day during this 2022 severe drought, even below the safety drain it has been in since the storm of April 2018.  The DLNR has placed a deadline of May 1, 2022 for a permit to be submitted to remove the dam, which will be the end of having any water storage facility for the North shore Kilauea area going into the future for times of drought and to preserve the wildlife pond and wetland habitat for the five endangered water birds who have for 100 years lived and bred at this lakeside.  

In this time of climate change, drought and extreme storms have both been experienced here on Kaua`i.  The decision to remove the dam by the KRCA membership and water use easement holders Porter Irrigation Company, LLC and Common Ground Utilities, LLC has mostly been about high costs of remediation of the embankments, building a new spillway, and replacing Outlet Works #1 so the 100 year old Kalihiwai Reservoir could come up to modern safety standards.  Applying for federal FEMA funding to remediate a private dam requires cooperation with the State of Hawaii DLNR who to date are not interested in submitting an application for such help.  

As we watch this wetland habitat be degraded and ultimately be removed there is deep sadness in watching a final pair of Hawaiian Coots and Stilts navigate the last small section of water left at the face of the dam.  The 21 acre grassy lakebed area is now all that is left of what was once a thriving lake, which can no longer support the life of these endangered water birds or the fish and crustaceans who lived in its waters that the birds fed on.  Why is doing the right thing so often always about not having the money?   

Until we meet again.

Aloha,
Maggie Lea