Neglect of the islands’ forests would be “suicidal,” for “everything fails with the failure of our water supply”. (Lyon; DLNR)
“Not enough rain and not enough water in the streams are great evils”.
“It appears to me to be unnecessary to again go deeply into the theory of the relation between forests and rainfall when all intelligent and observing people admit that the decrease or increase of rainfall goes pari passu (‘hand-in-hand’) with the decrease or increase of the forests.”
“The forest, which not only produces rain, but also retains the rainwater, holding it among its leaves and branches, its undergrowth, its myriads of roots and rootlets and its fallen debris, letting the rainwater trickle down slowly to the water streams and keeping them supplied for a long time”.
“(T)hat forest is not there. Rain pours down, the water rushes in torrents through the streams to the sea and soon after everything is dry again.” (Gjerdrum to HSPA, 1897)
Prior to 1820 all of Honolulu’s domestic drinking water was obtained from natural springs and the small river that runs through Nuʻuanu Valley.
Honolulu with its deep water port, abundant natural resources and friendly people soon became a favorite way station for whalers and traders crossing the Pacific Ocean.
The requirements of supplying these ships caused a waterfront storage tank to be installed at the lower end of Nuʻuanu Street. The water for that tank came from a taro patch on Emma Street.
The demand for drinking water from various springs and the Nuʻuanu Stream spurred the development of a public water supply distribution system that, upon its completion in 1862 provided water to the residents and businesses in downtown Honolulu. (DLNR)
“The water is pure, sweet, cool, clear as crystal, and comes from a spring in the mountains, and is distributed all over the town through leaden pipes.”
“You can find a hydrant spiriting away at the bases of three or four trees in a single yard, sometimes, so plenty and cheap is this excellent water. Only twenty-four dollars a year supplies a whole household with a limitless quantity of it.” (Twain, April 20, 1866
However, there was concern about the diminishing forests … and, with it, a crisis in the availability of water.
By the 1830s, forested lands in the Islands were in decline. The sandalwood trade had reduced sandalwood populations to such an extent that in 1839, Hawaii’s first forestry law restricted the harvest of sandalwood.
Cattle (which had been introduced in the late-1700s) continued to cause widespread destruction of native forests. (Idol) For many years, cattle were allowed an unrestricted range in the forests so that in many sections the forest is either dead or dying. (Griffith)
The almost total destruction of the undergrowth has allowed the soil to bake and harden thus causing the rainfall to run off rapidly with the resultant effect of very low water during the dry season. (Griffith)
“We are in trouble because we have no firewood and no la‘i (ti leaf,) and no timber for houses, it is said in the law that those who are living on the land can secure the things above stated, this is all right for those living on the lands which have forests, but, we who live on lands which have no forests, we are in trouble.”
“The children are eating raw potato because of no firewood, the mouths of the children are swollen from having eaten raw taro. We have been in trouble for three months, the Konohikis with wooded lands here in Kaneohe have absolutely withheld the firewood and la‘i and the timber for houses.” (Letter from Hio et al to House of Representatives, 1851; Hulili, Ulukau)
It reached a maximum by the late-1800s/early-twentieth century owing to burning of the forests to locate the sandalwood trees, demand for firewood, commercial logging operations, conversion to agricultural and pastureland, the effects of grazing and browsing ungulates (including cattle, goats, and pigs) and increased fire frequency. (Woodcock)
The sugar industry, still concerned about water shortages due to forest decline, sought and succeeded in establishing the forest reserve system, which instituted partnerships between public and private landowners to protect forests.
Due to the cooperation between public and private landowners, and another tax break for conservation of forests on private land in 1909, large scale reforestation, fencing and feral ungulate eradication efforts occurred across the islands.
The forests were transformed during this time, as millions of fast-growing nonnative trees were planted throughout the islands to quickly re-establish watersheds denuded by logging and ungulates.
Impending crisis also led to the development of groundwater wells (today’s primary source of drinking water in the Islands.) The McCandless brothers started drilling the first artesian well in the Hawaiian Islands in the rear of the James Campbell Ranch House at Honouliuli, Ewa District, on the flat land close to the sea.
“Mr. Wilder (then-Minister of the Interior under King Kalakaua) helped us in securing contracts for five wells, to be drilled for His Majesty, King Kalakaua: one in the Palace grounds, one at his home in Waikiki, and three others located on his properties in the outside districts.”
Over the next 55-years, McCandless Brothers drilled more than 700 good wells across the Islands. Their wells helped support and water the growing and expansive sugar and pineapple plantations including ʻEwa, Kahuku, Oʻahu, Waialua and other large producers, and also on the Islands of Maui, Hawaiʻi, Kauai and Molokai.
We are fortunate that 100-years ago (April 25, 1903) some forward thinkers had the good sense to set aside Hawai‘i’s forested lands and protected our forest watersheds under the State’s forest reserve system.
While I was at DLNR, we oversaw nearly 1-million acres of mauka watershed. Healthy forests are a goal for all of us in Hawai‘i, it’s as much about fresh water, erosion control, protected reefs and economic opportunities as it is about trees. (I am proud and honored to serve on the Board of Directors of the Hawai‘i Forest Institute.)
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Peter H. Radl says
Peter: Great paper! Water will become … in my opinion, it already is … more valuable than gold. The press and the political establishment don’t seem to be aware of the ‘essential’ nature of this resource. Please keep writing about it. Hawaii especially will become quite vulnerable … it already is … to the possibility of great water shortages. Fresh water containment, erosion control, protected reefs, economic opportunity and healthy forests are all inter-related issues that will dictate the quality of life not only in Hawaii but across the United States and the world. The are very few voices out there advocating for protection of this most important of any resource on this Earth. Loved the picture. Keep up the good work. Remember to tell people that I exposed you to everything you care about and love. Gassho.
Andrea Anixt says
The BWS and DLNR told our Neighborhood Board in rainy Ko’olauLoa moku that we will be having to do desalination for water here in about 15 years and that it costs about 7 times as much. So, people who can barely afford housing costs now will have no access to water they can afford?…
The Department of Planning and Permitting “plans” already allow 3 new hotels and 100 resort residential units (plus 375 lock-off units that sleep 4 not counted) already and are revising the Oahu General Plan to increase to double possibly the housing in this rural-designated area in addition…Forest reserve programs are underfunded and this moku uses ground water pumped from wells subject to increasing salinity with the rising sea levels.
Residents will have to pay dearly for water thanks in large part to developers of the Turtle Bay Resort’s 2 hotel expansion and Laie ‘s new hotel being built now as they bring in more and more visitors. The new city the LDS developer wants on Malaekahana’s agricultural land is overkill on the water use and the sole two lane highway from Haleiwa to Kahalu’u. Recharge of groundwater supplies can take generations. There are negative side effects to desalination and massive energy consumption is required.
No development is the best solution in this moku. Since there are already 4,356 vacant/developable urban zoned lots in Ko’olauloa, the citizenry need to affect the revision of the 40+ year old Oahu General Plan now to keep Ag land in Ag at Malaekahana (and Kualoa Ranch in Ko’olaupoko).