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After seeing the short story in the paper I drove by there today and sure enough, there is nothing coming over the falls. Some water is flowing further up at Boiling Pots and it seems to be coming out at the bottom and on the left side down at the falls. I talked to a Hilo native there and he had never seen it happen before. I don't know how much of it is usually surface water or how much is underground. Anybody think that this is significant?
Jay
Jay
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It is only 16 days until the End of the World. Or did NASA cancel that?
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It is VERY significant, more important is the fact that the flow rate of the Wailuku has been on a downward trend over the last few years... something that could change a lot about east Hawai`i....not only the economics of no waterfalls for visitors to visit...
& this was very timely, as yesterday I had to present a proposal on CC adaptation actions for the Wailuku watershed....many of our public stakeholders still have the feeling that the river will always flow (was able to add in a picture at the last minute of the no-flow...)...something that other windward tropical-semi-tropical rainforests around the world have had to come to terms with over the last decade...they may not...and the reliability may be forever changed.
This may be a very new & real status of our watersheds...and the implications of low - no waterflow are very wide ranging...and our officials are barely aware that most of the areas around the Pacific Rim have had Fed, State & local adaption action plans in place.... something only now the U.S. is starting to think about maybe including in planning....
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I think that there are two old but still functioning, well not now of course, hydroelectric plants on the river above Hilo.
Jay
Jay
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There are 3 power plants, Puueo is over 100 years old (1910) & the first production plant for HELCO (of any type...although it wasn't HELCO then...) and the newest is run by Wailuku River Power... put in service in 1993 & the last 'public' hydro put in service in this state..
All not in production right now (too low of a stream flow, all of them only start generating power when the river is running at least 10% of "normal" flow due to the 'run of the river' construction of their weir ...so it may be a little while - come on RAIN!)
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And Royall was a featured quote on KITV
David
Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com
Ninole Resident
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No such thing as global climate change -- or if it is real, there's no way humans are causing it.
I also believe the government will balance the budget. Oh, and the tooth fairy is definitely real.
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new island w/ no thick sediment = very porous surface and the water seeps in very easily. Thats normal for that river, the water at singing bridge is only a small % of the water at boiling pots, same with further up the coast at Akaka, there is far more water flowing over Akaka, than what flows through KoleKole area
I led a tour up to Akaka Falls Wed, the waterfall was flowing nice but was noticeably much weaker and quieter than normal... short droughts happen every years and we are on an island which magnifies the water situation
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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Diminished flows do happen, but not NO FLOW that we have right now....Have been up & down the Wailuku this fall, getting the presentation work & research.. . believe me when I say that this flow scenario throughout the river this year is not only NOT NORMAL, but there is no data that compares to the low flow we are having...so either you have flow rate nformation that is not available to others, or this is VERY, VERY NOT NORMAL for the Wailuku
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can anyone provide any data that supports the statement "this is not normal" ?
