A $1 million Waimea project, for which Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Friday he had released funding, won’t be going ahead after all. A $1 million Waimea project, for which Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Friday he had released funding, won’t be
A $1 million Waimea project, for which Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Friday he had released funding, won’t be going ahead after all.
State Sens. Malama Solomon and Gilbert Kahele announced last month the funding for the Waimea hydropower project, which would have tied into the Waimea irrigation system. Abercrombie made the funding announcement as part of a broader announcement about watershed protection and water resources management on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture said late Friday the department received a feasibility study this week on the project, and learned it would not be feasible to construct the plant. The department decided against moving ahead on the project.
“Our engineer said that the cost-benefit ratio was way off,” spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said. “Because the water flows through the pipeline only when the farmers are drawing water (which is not constant or consistent), it would not generate enough power to make it worth the cost of the system.”
Saneishi said the full feasibility report would not be provided unless West Hawaii Today filed a Uniform Information Practices Act request.
A spokeswoman for Abercrombie’s office said she wasn’t aware the department had decided not to pursue the plant until after West Hawaii Today contacted the Department of Agriculture seeking additional information for three Hawaii Island projects. The governor’s spokeswoman was not able to say Friday what would happen with the $1 million released for the hydropower plant.
Abercrombie also announced the release of $2 million for the Waimea Transfer Ditch. The Department of Agriculture advertised the contract for that project last week, Saneishi said. Construction could begin as early as this fall, with work taking about nine months to complete.
The department also intends to begin work on a $300,000 project in Hamakua, repairing flumes, ditches, reservoirs and tunnels for the irrigation system in the state’s Lower Hamakua Ditch Watershed, this fall, Saneishi said.
