Rainbow Falls

[Jay Bondesen]

So far no one has contradicted the "never happened before" comment in my first post so it can't be considered normal. Google shows it to be a pretty small watershed with several tributaries feeding into the river. In Northern CA there are a few rivers that are entirely spring fed with water running through lava deposits from Mt. Lassen 50 miles away. This subsurface water would continue to flow for quite some time without rainfall. With our topography the rivers here aren't surface runoff or with the short distances they would always be starting and stopping. I also wonder if it may have found a new outlet, some old lava tube taking it somewhere else.

Jay

[Carey]

The Wailuku is the largest watershed in the state, comprising the majority of the Hilo Bay Watershed (total 463K acres)
USGS & HiloBayWatershed.org (was on their advisory group) have streamflow data, if you have differing data, please... this is data we need for the watershed action plan!

[bluesboy]

i couldn't find the raw data on that website, although this report has a good summary

http://www.hilobaywatershed.org/research...202009.pdf

see table 3 on page 62/135. the important column is the sum of rainfall over the previous 5 days. none of those values were ever zero, which indicates no rainfall in the previous 5 days. when the rainfall over the previous 5 days was at a minimum, the flow rate was very low, up to 100 times less (compare base 4 to storm 4).

i haven't looked at the recent rainfall data at hilo airport, which is what the document references, but up in mtn view, it has not rained for going on a week, so in relation to the data in the table, we are at a minimum.

just because no one on punaweb has not contradicted it, does not mean it didn't happen. a very small percentage of the population visits this site, and the majority of the users are relatively new here, versus longtime residents who have seen that river for decades and decades.

i'm not convinced that the river being dry is not normal. to make assumptions about what is normal, one must be familiar with not only the last 5 years, but also the last 50 years, and even better, the last 500 years.

it is difficult to compare hawaii to california, they are different in so many ways, especially the ways the volcanoes are formed. it's comparing apples to oranges.

[Carey]

I NEVER said to look at the responses of the forum to make an informed decision, I said to look at the data...you stated that the website did not have the raw data....did you LOOK at the USGS site & not find the raw data? or you looked at one of the many research documents on the HBWAG site...to do this research, you must use all sources that are suggested, not just one document from a website. That is what I have tried to do to make my statement....In working with the WAG I have interviewed many people that live along the Wailuku, used the trails in & around the riparian zone, tested the waters, tested the bay (even wrote a grant to study the waters in both that won the $100k grant ...), worked with USGS, USDA SWC, USDA RDC, USFWS, NOAA, DOFAW, DOE, DOT, & HECO & IPPs that utilize the river.

Again, if you have ANY data that shows differently... PLEASE we are in the process of working on the action plan & I would greatly appreciate the data....

[rainshadow]

Right on, Carey - thanks so much for doing such important work.
I for one really really appreciate it.


-- rainshadow

[jerry]

Not sure how you would research it but I bet if Rainbow Falls had dried up in the pre-contact past it would be mentioned in chants.

Jerry
Art and Orchids B&B
http://www.artandorchids.com

[Carey]

I have seen this in different forms, with Hina in her home in the cave below the ledge of Rainbow falls, & her son Maui & his dealings with the dragon K(T)una, embattled, & in the battle, lava splashing into the water above the falls forming the boiling pots...

I have not seen a legend about stopping the flow of the river (granted there may be...but I have not seen it Link to the Maui & Wailuku legend from Sacred Text:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/maui/maui16.htm

Added to reduce brevity ;~)
When looking at both the geologic features & the mele, there are some important features to note: the rock is all basalt, there are some slight & some major compositional variations...and thanks to research like the XRF studies going by Dr. Lundblad, we are starting to learn more about the age and creation place of the rocks we see, esp. in a riparian zone like the Wailuku, where rocks of different ages and lava eruptions can be carried & placed together.

As with mele, where the polynesian lifeblood lives & flows in braided paths like the telling of a dragon/lizard on an island with no reptiles, with a name that is grounded more in the Maori tongue, but is spoken of in the land of Hawai`i, carried over the waves by people that have seen rocks in other lands, perhaps their tales are of gods embattled with the fire breath of eons prior & see similar patterns, or maybe they have heard of the dragon & see the hot lava splashing in the pools... The myths & the rocks are intertwined...and the scientists are now looking to both, to tease out the threads that make the story of this place.

[Obie]

From the US drought monitor website.

Dryness intensified on much of the Big Island of Hawaii, with D1 expanding to cover most of the island. Water recently stopped flowing over Rainbow Falls near Hilo, HI, a rare but not unprecedented occurrence.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?HI

[bystander]

I seem to recall it being said that this is an el nino year. The winter is supposed to be drier and cooler. I've noticed the lack of rain for the last few weeks. Before that, someone on this forum was comlaining about the rain.

I also seem to recall reading an old missionary account of an earthquake opening up a lava tube sometime in the mid 1800s. This supposedly diverted all the water flowing down the Wailuku underground. The people back then had to seal the hole up to make the water flow again. I'm sure I read this somewhere but can't find it now.

[csgray]

The year we had the biggish earthquake followed by a record rain a lava tube right next to the house we were renting suddenly seemed to be draining all of Hawaiian acres right into our carport, ot was literally flowing out of the puka with more force than an open fire hydrant. According to the guy who had lived on the same land for years, that puka had never before spouted out water. Our guess was that the earthquake had rerouted the underground water flow right into our carport, and then the river flowed right through our apartment. It was a mess.

Carol