Reservoirs were the lifeblood of plantations in Hawai'i for most of the last century, and they were cared for like fragile, living things.

Their pulse — expansion in rain, contraction in drought — was carefully measured. And their excesses were moderated through manipulation of gates and valves.

But the fatal breach of the dam at Kaua'i's Kaloko Reservoir shows what can happen in the post-plantation era, now that no single entity is committed to the safety and functionality of many of Hawai'i's dams. The March 14 failure left seven people dead, millions of dollars worth of homes and other property destroyed, and the sole road to Kaua'i's north shore, Kuhio Highway, severely undermined.

Plantations take their reservoirs seriously, because they are critical to the cultivation of crops. But other dams across the state now are operated by development companies, land-holding trusts and even groups of neighboring property owners.

For example, only after Morita Reservoir was severely damaged in Kaloko's collapse did the state learn that it didn't know who was responsible for maintenance.

And, later, officials were surprised to find that there was no clear responsibility for the maintenance of Morita.

Several property owners had been sold "lakefront" lots, and their lot lines ran out into the reservoir, but they had never established an organization to take care of their "lake."

Today, their lake is gone. Civil Defense authorities ordered the weakened Morita dam breached to protect downstream properties.

Kaloko was safely operated and its water was used for 80 years by the same sugar plantation, the former Kilauea Sugar Co.

It's the type of care other working plantations still provide.

"All our reservoirs are checked visually at least twice a day, 365 days of the year. If there's a rainfall event, they may be visually inspected many more times a day," said Rick Volner, vice president for farming operations at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui.

The state's other sugar plantation, Kaua'i's Gay & Robinson, has a similar practice.

"We're up in our reservoirs almost on a daily basis. We manage the water, even on holidays," said Alan Kennett, president of Gay & Robinson.

Dams in Hawai'i are generally low-maintenance, but plantations believe they need to be checked frequently, he said.

With the closing of plantations and the sale of their lands, much of the responsibility once borne by plantations was passed to government. But while the state is tasked with inspecting dams, state law makes it clear that even if it doesn't inspect, the state is protected.

Here is the partial language in the state law: "no action or failure to act under this chapter shall be construed to create any liability in the State ... "

RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT

Of the roughly 130 major reservoirs in the state, most continue to be operated by the two remaining sugar plantations; by successor companies to plantations that are still actively in agriculture like Alexander & Baldwin Inc.'s Kaua'i Coffee; by successor companies that aren't in agriculture, like Grove Farm on Kaua'i; and by the state itself.

But there is no statewide oversight of the dozens of reservoirs that have passed out of the hands of their builders. And that vacuum in reservoir management is chilling to state Civil Defense officials.

"Any time you impound water, you're asking for trouble. Unless there is a specific reason for those reservoirs ... they ought to breach them," said Bill Balfour, head of Honolulu Civil Defense who, as a former plantation supervisor and manager, knows about dams.

"When I was manager at Lihu'e Planation, I knew every reservoir and what the levels were at any given time. If we got heavy rain, we were out there opening gates. One time we had 31 inches in 36 hours. I worked 40 straight hours. No food. No sleep," he said.

Today, the state has no standard for how to maintain reservoirs or how often owners must inspect them. State Department of Land and Natural Resources administrative rules say owners are responsible, but provide no other guidance.

In many cases, residents can buy entire reservoirs or reservoir-front "lake" property without being alerted that the safekeeping of the reservoir is their responsibility.

"A lot of people have bought them thinking they're buying a nice lake on their property," Kennett said.

'WE HAVE A GAP'

Joyce Doty, who with husband, Ed, owns property on the Morita Reservoir, downstream from the Kaloko dam, said they maintained the Morita dam because they used reservoir water to irrigate the botanic garden that they started, Na Aina Kai. But no one told them they had a legal mandate to do so, she said.

"Nobody ever told us we were supposed to do it. It came as a whole surprise to us that the landowner was responsible," she said.

Apparently, it was a surprise to other property owners on Morita Reservoir as well, because none of them had been contributing to the cost of maintenance.

State vice director of Civil Defense Ed Teixeira said he was shocked to learn that no government agency was in regular contact with reservoir owners.

"We have a gap and a void. We need to do more than we're doing now. We need to make it very clear what the responsibilities are," Teixeira said.

DLNR is charged with making inspections, but chairman Peter Young has acknowledged that there are dams it had never inspected before Kaloko's breach — notably, Kaloko itself.

Young promises a complete overhaul of the dam system.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.