§179-2 Definitions. The following terms, whenever used and referred to in this chapter, shall have the following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears in the context:

"Abnormal tidal action" includes high seas or surf, hurricane floods, and tsunami or seismic waves.

"Board" means the board of land and natural resources.

"Department" means the department of land and natural resources.

"Drainage" means the collection and conveyance of surface or subsurface water, storm runoff, or any other water to a disposal area, or into a watercourse or standing body of water to reduce damage to lands which are not necessarily adjacent to the watercourse or standing body of water, or to reclaim lands for beneficial use.

"Drainage facilities" means any manmade construction undertaken for drainage purposes and shall include conduits, ditches, canals, dikes, embankments, dams, reservoirs, and other appropriate facilities.

"Drainage measures" includes drainage facilities, land treatment, statutory and building code requirements relating to drainage, and any other measures intended to accomplish drainage purposes.

"Flood" means the temporary inundation of usable lands caused by the overflow of an adjacent natural watercourse or standing body of water.

"Flood control", "flood water control", and "flood prevention", mean the minimizing of flood damage, by appropriate protective, preventive, and corrective measures.

"Flood control measures" includes flood control works, land treatment, master planning and zoning to establish encroachment zones along watercourses and adjacent to standing bodies of water, training of flood fighting units, flood disaster plans and operations, and any other measures relating to flood control, flood water conservation and flood damage.

"Flood control plan", "general flood control plan", and "plan" mean the report entitled General Flood Control Plan for Hawaii (Volume II of Flood Control and Flood Water Conservation in Hawaii), published by the board in January, 1963.

"Flood control program" when referring to a specific watershed or subwatershed, means all existing or planned flood control measures relating to such area; when referring to the statewide flood control program means the general flood control plan and all activities of the board and department pursuant to this chapter.

"Flood control project", "federal flood control project", and "state flood control project" mean, respectively: (1) specific flood control works which comprise all or a portion of the works needed to complete a specific flood control program; (2) a flood control project authorized and implemented pursuant to the Federal Flood Control Act of 1936 or the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1958, as amended or supplemented, and (3) a flood control project sponsored and financed by the State and authorized and implemented pursuant to section 179-4(3).

"Flood control works", "works of improvement", "works", or "flood control facilities" mean any manmade construction undertaken to confine storm runoff within a natural watercourse, conserve such runoff, or lessen the energy and effect of abnormal tidal action, and shall include conduits, ditches, canals, levees, dikes, embankments, dams, reservoirs, breakwaters, groins, seawalls, and other appropriate facilities.

"Flood water conservation" means the confinement, storage, and beneficial utilization of storm runoff by the construction, operation, maintenance, and supervision of drainage and flood control facilities.

"Political subdivision" means any of the several counties under existence in the State by virtue of the laws of Hawaii or any legally organized district or political incorporation thereof.

"Standing body of water" means a fresh water pond, lake, or reservoir, or the Pacific Ocean along an extended shoreline or a tidal inlet such as a bay, harbor, pond, or estuary.

"United States" means the United States of America, including the agencies, instrumentalities, officers, agents, or employees thereof.

"Watercourse" or "natural watercourse" means any river, stream, gulch, gully, valley floor, or any other naturally formed channel having a bed and sides or banks in which water flows either perennially or intermittently. "Natural watercourse" shall also include a drainage ditch in existence after seven years from installation but shall not include a ravine, swale, or similar depression within which water flows only during rainfall. [L 1961, c 34, §2; am L 1963, c 148, pt of §1; Supp, §87C-2; HRS §179-2]

Revision Note

Definitions rearranged.