KILAUEA, Kaua'i — The owner of a dam that failed March 14 asked for the state's help to remove Kaloko Reservoir dam later that month, but the state never replied, the owner's attorney and the state said yesterday.

Bill McCorriston, attorney for landowner Jimmy Pflueger, wrote on March 31, "Mr. Pflueger would like to remove the above dam with the assistance of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Please inform the undersigned as to a convenient date to discuss implementation of the dam's removal." The land on which the Kaloko Reservoir and dam sit is owned by Pflueger, a retired automobile dealer, and the Mary N. Lucas Trust.

McCorriston said that neither DLNR chairman Peter Young nor his department has ever responded to that letter.

Young said that's because the state attorney general's investigation of the dam breach is continuing and his office is prevented from action.

"We've been going back and forth with the attorney general's office on how to resolve this specific case," Young said.

Today, more than three months after the disaster, the great earthen bowl that formed the reservoir is mostly empty. Vegetation is gradually moving down the slopes to the wide pond at its center. But even after the massive flood, Kaloko continues to hold an estimated 40 million gallons. Two ditches still feed the reservoir, and several million gallons of irrigation water monthly are drawn from the reservoir to farmers downslope.

McCorriston's letter was in response to a notice sent by Young within a week of the Kaloko breach to the state's dam owners, reminding them of their legal requirement to maintain their dams, but also offering the state's help if owners wanted to decommission and remove their dams.

Young's March 17 letter said, in part, "if you decide to remove your dam or reservoir, the Department will assist you in the processing of the permit for removal and present it to the Board of Land and Natural Resources or the Commission on Water Resource Management for action, as appropriate."

Yesterday, McCorriston said Pflueger is now considering other options, including keeping the reservoir in place to supply water to farmers.

McCorriston said his client recently received a request from area farmers to keep their irrigation system functioning, and is considering that. The main user of Kaloko water is Kilauea Irrigation Co., which provides water to about 20 farmers downslope from Kaloko.

'CRUCIAL' RESOURCE

The 116-year-old reservoir's dam burst March 14, setting off a flood that swept down Wailapa Stream valley, scouring the ground and killing seven people when it ripped away the homes in which they slept. An estimated 400 million gallons of water dumped out of the reservoir before dawn, sweeping away most of an earthen dam more than 200 feet thick at its base.

Kilauea Irrigation Co. owner Tom Hitch said Kaloko is crucial to the water resources of the region. Its water is directly used not only to fill the irrigation company's pipes, but also to provide water to Mary Lucas Trust lands in the region, and to Pflueger's lands in the Pila'a area. Kaloko water runs to a subsidiary reservoir called Waiakalua, and seepage from the reservoir feeds springs and streams in the Waipake, Waiakalua, Wailapa, Kaluamakua and Pila'a valleys, Hitch said.

"Without Kaloko, I think all of that would dry up," he said. "If they were to decommission the reservoir, that would be an enormous tragedy."

TRUST'S DILEMMA

Pflueger and the farmers are not the only ones worried about the future of Kaloko. While the reservoir's dam appears to be entirely or mostly on Pflueger's property, a significant piece of the actual reservoir is on a separate parcel of land owned by the Mary Lucas Trust. Pflueger is a beneficiary of this trust, along with a number of his relatives.

Attorney Carroll Taylor, the court-appointed interim trustee of the trust, said it owns a minority of the land under the reservoir, but has rights to 50 percent of the reservoir's water. Taylor said the trust recognizes the value of the reservoir to the water needs of the area, but also recognizes the potential liability of owning a reservoir in the post-breach legal environment.

"The definite feedback I get from my beneficiaries is that we're neighbors (with farmers) and we want to do whatever we can to help the agricultural economy. At the same time, we can sure understand that people who own dams have to balance their desire to help the economy and/or friends with our (legal) exposure," Taylor said.

He said the trust was not informed by Pflueger or his representatives of McCorriston's March 31 letter announcing plans to remove the dam.

McCorriston said that Pflueger can do little with the dam and reservoir now without government assistance, and neither Pflueger nor his attorneys has received indication from state or county governments that they want Kaloko restored.

Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste yesterday said agricultural water is crucial to the region, and that the county is interested in ensuring it is available, but that the issue is largely out of the county's hands. "We're going to need to be able to provide water for agriculture. That's important in keeping the area rural and in agriculture," Baptiste said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.