The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-11-04
The Water Supply.

hih. EDITOR ALLOW me a space an your paper TO
make n few remarks on the article Of q writer in last
weeks ADvERTIsER, on water supply Your
correspondent refers TO n promise which I had made
of restoring the former Nuuanu stream within five
years again TO its old watcr-mark. made such an
offer to the Legislature of 1870, but as / was not
even noticed with an answer, my offer being perhaps
esteemed as the emanation Of q cranky brain, or the
people of Honolulu or at least the learned legislators,
preferring or rather being fond Of drinking water
with a slight taste Of sea-snlt or n stick in II, 7 Of
course did not press my services any more. But
your correspondent having mentioned the fire years.
/ would respectfully remind him that while six years
ago circumstances permitted me 10 make such an
offer in good faith, the last six years have wrought
such important changes in the valley, that no mah
could undertake anything like such q labor with
means at hand such as the country could have oferdl
then. After drought has commenced steady inroads,
the rule is that it works with every year at IN accel-
Grated pace. The last few years have not only de.
stroyed every large tree in the valley. but have
made heavy inroads upon the low places, where the
former mass Of creeping hau trees has either fully
disappeared or is very much thinned ont, and the
heat and drought has baked the soil 50 hard that il
will take many a shower Of rain to soften the soil 10
receive the water, while digging holes for planting
will be twice as slow and laborious rs when The soil
was wet. Besides this, quite q different plan will
have to be pursued from that Of six years ago, as the
sheltering trees have disappeared and replanting
will require quite different varieties Of trees, while
planting eucalyptus trees will be out Of the question
for a year or two until shelter and moisture is on
hand. Il will require at least from fifty TO seventy
thousand trees Of the fastest growing kind and plant
ed in selected places, TO make a movement towards
water. Furthermore there remains the main ques-
ton 10 be taken into consideration, will there be
sufficient water 10 insure the growth Of trees, when
planted, as rains are scarce and watering trees Is a
slow process?" ] know that many people Of Homo
lulu are rejoicing at the approaching advent Of the
rainy season, but 1 am rather afraid that the rainy
season will disappoint them with only q little and
short-lived influence upon the water supply of Homo
lulu, as the absence Of forests from the valley will
have no; only the effect TO slide the less severe show
ers Of rain, after they are split, along both sides Of
the mountain and roll them over the hills into the
wooded parts Of Manoa or Kalihi, or combine them
again into one mass above Honolulu. so that 10 fact
Honolulu viii be a larger recipient Of rain than the
valley itself The drought, as is demonstrated by
the failure Of Kapeua springs, has so completely
gone to the very bedrock that il will take more than
an unusually rainy season 10 gu the dried up subter-
ranean reservoirs sufficiently for a few months Of
water supply for the next year, and the slope Of the
valley is so steep that much rain must run to waste.
I IN well aware that some Of the most intelligent
and | will add learned men Of Honolulu have no
faith in forest planting, but cherish n theory about
90 currents Of the air. while others again have the
idea that forests are just the thing 10 produce cur
rents Of air, and il Is quite y remarkable fact th.t
the " currents Of air. made Ulupalakua what peo-
pie termed here " the ash heap Of Maui, - while
forests drove those . currents Of air " away and
brought more rain than is actually needed. How
ever, there can be na doubt that those same currents
Of air ever since the forest il gone also, have played
and are not finished yet playing the very mischief
with Honolulu water supply, and have changed even
the clear waters Of Kapena springs into n real old
fashioned Mississippi fluid, with perhaps a little too
much favor Of the COW pastures or what natives call
mo,doaa ioa, but undoubtedly very nourishing.
That replanting the valley would insure 10 Homo
lulu q common water supply, !. G., sufficient for
daily consumption, in about two years time, If the
valley does not dry up altogether, SO as 10 make
planting impossible, is very possible, but the old
wateF-mark could under existing circumstances not
be reached under seven or eight years, when the
former Macfarlane bath and the old falls might be
once more in their glory, and the learned men of
Honolulu do their best 20 keep the I" currents Of
air after the valley has been. again replanted,
away from Nuuanu valley. There are plenty Of
other places on the different islands where the cur
rents cf mir offer a very fair sample for demonstra-
ton II.