The Waimea Ditch is an irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 on the island of Kauai

Kauai

Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

In 1903, the Waimea Ditch was dug to divert water from the Waimea River to nearby sugar cane fields. Construction of Waimea Ditch was completed in 1907.

During 1911-1912, George Ewart, the manager of the Waimea Sugar Company, reconfigured the Waimea Ditch by replacing the iron flume

Flume

A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic...

s with tunnels to increase its flow capacity.

External links

• Volunteers Clean One Big Island Ditch - News story from khnl.com
• Damage to Big Isle ditches still unknown - News story from starbulletin.com - By Christine Fayé