The devil is in the details, the saying goes. When it comes to government spending, there's dollars in the details.

Two years ago the state Department of Transportation agreed to pay $52 million to settle a long-running complaint from federal government about storm-water runoff pollution of Island waters.

Under the deal, the DOT agreed to pay a $1 million fine, another $1 million for a self-assessment of environmental responsibilities and an additional $50 million over five years to resolve ongoing violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act at highways and airports.

Here comes the details part. Under a related law — the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for construction, as regulated by the Federal Clean Water Act — the DOT has been required to install rain gauges at all highway projects and to take daily readings of those gauges. The rainfall data is needed to calculate runoff and pollution reports.

Sources familiar with how the program is working say that automated rain gauges are available to perform these tasks but they only have been installed on highway projects on Maui. The Department of Transportation says gauges have been installed on O'ahu, Maui and the Big Island, although their reliability is still being tested. Otherwise, state workers personally visit the gauges every day to record the rainfall data, which is the case on rainy Kaua'i.

That's not a problem on weekdays, when inspectors or engineers are on site to keep track of ongoing work.

But weekends are another matter.

On Kaua'i, one inspector was assigned on a rotating basis to visit the handful of rain gauges on Saturdays and Sundays, clocking in hours of overtime for the work.

There was grumbling among the troops, so higher-paid engineers were added to the rotation list.

That brought more grumbling and a union grievance.

Now the system's been changed again, at least on Kaua'i. Our source says that instead of one inspector going out Saturday and Sunday, to check four gauges, now four inspectors are sent out to check one gauge each. The DOT says the overtime tab for that work is a little more than $40,000 per year.

The EPA identified storm-water runoff from DOT facilities and projects as a significant source of pollution of Island waters. The EPA said the Hawai'i DOT was "significantly behind other state and local governments" in dealing with the problem.

If you know that a particular money trail will lead to boondoggle, excessive spending or white elephants, reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com