[§167-5]  Powers.  In addition to any
other powers granted to the board of agriculture for the purpose of carrying
out all of its functions and duties, the board shall have the following powers
for the purposes of this chapter:



(1)  To acquire by eminent domain, water and water
sources either above or underground, watershed, reservoir sites, rights-of-way
over lands and property for paths, trails, roads, and landing sites, ditches,
tunnels, flumes, reservoirs, and pipelines necessary or proper for the construction
and maintenance of water facilities for conveying, distributing, and
transmitting water for irrigation and domestic use and for such other purposes
as may properly fall within the scope of its activities in creating, managing,
controlling, operating, and maintaining irrigation water facilities, any of
which purposes shall be held to be for a public use and purpose;



(2)  To make and execute contracts and other
instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the board,
including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, contracts and
other instruments for the purchase or sale of water and for the purchase or
lease of water facilities for irrigation of the area, including but not limited
to the production of agricultural products and the land on which the facilities
are situated, and for securing to the owners and occupiers of land already
using water in a project a priority right to so much water from those of their
sources and facilities which are taken over for the project as is required for
the purposes or needs of the land, whether agricultural or nonagricultural in
nature, as such purposes or needs exist at the inception of the project or are
then contemplated in the immediate future;



(3)  To make and from time to time amend and repeal
bylaws and rules, not inconsistent with this chapter, which upon compliance
with chapter 91 shall have the force and effect of law, to carry into effect
the powers and purposes of the board;



(4)  To make surveys for the purposes of determining
the engineering and economic feasibility of each project;



(5)  To conduct or have prepared comprehensive studies
of the crops, livestock, and poultry which may be profitably grown or produced
within each project and the probable market for such crops, livestock, and
poultry;



(6)  To conduct feasibility studies of the economic
potential of the area;



(7)  To determine the probable costs and value of
providing water for irrigation in any proposed project;



(8)  To investigate and make surveys of water
resources, including the possibility and feasibility of inducing rain by
artificial or other means;



(9)  To define and redefine the boundaries of projects
and to consolidate or separate projects, existing or proposed pursuant to this
chapter, provided that in the event the redefinition of the boundaries or the
consolidation or separation previously effected increased the total amount
required to be derived from acreage assessments upon lands within the existing
project or projects by more than five per cent or will require an increase in
the tolls charged for water supplied to the lands or will reduce the amount of
water normally available for distribution to the lands, then the redefinition,
consolidation, or separation may be accomplished only after notice has been
published and a public hearing held as required for the formation of a project
upon the initiative of the board.  At the hearing, right to protest and the
procedure relative to protest shall be the same as specified in section 167-17
concerning the formation of projects, and the proposed redefinition of
boundaries, consolidation, or separation of projects shall not be accomplished
if protests, such as would be sufficient to prevent the action if it were the
formation of a project, are filed by owners and lessees of land within the
existing projects or projects affected thereby.



The board is empowered, upon petition of land
occupiers as provided by section 167-13, or upon petition of the Hawaiian homes
commission or upon its own initiative, to prepare detailed plans for the
acquisition or construction of facilities for irrigation or for economic
development which in its opinion are economically feasible, to prepare
estimates of the probable cost of each, and to prepare estimates of the water
tolls and acreage assessments required for the cost of operation and the
amortization of the investment of each project, so that the project shall be
self-supporting. [L 1987, c 306, pt of §1]