The media, and many in the public, were quick, and wrong, to try to make Jimmy Pflueger the scapegoat for the failure of the Kaloko dam. The truth, to the contrary, is simple, and should be clear to anyone who has ever filled a bathtub.

The Kaloko reservoir, like a bathtub, has a limited capacity. And the supply of water to the Kaloko reservoir, like the supply of water into a bathtub, could be turned on and off. As with a bathtub, the people with the responsibility to shut off the water should have shut it off before a catastrophe occurred. Jimmy Pflueger never had the ability to stop the flow of water into the reservoir, and he should not be made the scapegoat for others' failure to do so.

As the former irrigation superintendent for Kilauea Sugar Co., I am quite familiar with the Kaloko irrigation system. The reservoir and ditch system were built more than 100 years ago to store water to be used to irrigate Kilauea Sugar Co. plantation lands.

The Kaloko ditch diverted water from the mauka lands (which were government lands, now owned by the state) and, through a system of gates and valves, directed the water into the reservoir. The same gates and valves could also be used to divert water away from the reservoir if the water got too high, just as one would turn off the faucet to a bathtub that threatened to overflow.

When I was there, ditch men maintained the ditches, gates and valves, monitored the flow of the water into the reservoir, and ensured that the water level in the reservoir was proper. After the plantation closed, the obligation for maintenance and repair of the reservoir and ditch system remained the responsibility of C. Brewer and Co. Ltd. and, later, its subsidiary, Kilauea Irrigation Co. Inc.

Much of the ditch system is on state land, but C. Brewer and Kilauea Irrigation had state-issued licenses to go onto those state lands to maintain the ditch system, and to maintain, repair and operate the gates and valves. Pflueger did not have such a license.

In February and March of 2006, Hawai'i had more than 40 days and 40 nights of rain. In the old days, the hana ditch men would have daily monitored the water levels along the entire water system and, early on in this period of rain, would have diverted the water away from the reservoir.

Kilauea Irrigation, which had the same responsibility to control the water as did Kilauea Sugar with its hana wai men, should likewise have used the gates and valves, early on, to stop the water from flowing into the reservoir. Kilauea Irrigation didn't do so, the water continued to flow in, and a catastrophe occurred.

Common sense would tell us if the irrigation company and the state knew the spillway was inoperable (and published government reports show the degrading of the spillway since the 1980s), there should have been more, not less, vigilance in monitoring the water levels of the reservoir.

The media also ignore the fact that the state owns the water in the ditch system and in the reservoir. The state has licensed Kilauea Irrigation to sell the water for irrigation as a public utility, and Kilauea Irrigation's sale of the water is overseen and controlled by the state Public Utilities Commission. In short, the state and Kilauea Irrigation make money from selling the water in Ka Loko Reservoir — Pflueger makes nothing.

It's also important to note that in late 2005, just months before the dam failure, C. Brewer sold its stock in Kilauea Irrigation to Hitch Co., a sole proprietorship of Thomas Hitch, who had been working for Kilauea Irrigation for years. C. Brewer sold Kilauea Irrigation to Hitch for $10, knowing that Hitch didn't have the resources or the ability to maintain the reservoir, dam or water system as Kilauea Irrigation was obligated to do.

And the state Public Utilities Commission approved that sale, likewise knowing that Kilauea Irrigation had been operating at a loss for years and knowing that Hitch lacked the resources to carry out Kilauea Irrigation's obligations.

The recently issued report of Special Deputy Attorney General Robert Carson Godbey, "The Report of the Independent Civil Investigation of the March 14, 2006, Breach of the Ka Loko Dam," specifically discusses Kilauea Irrigation's failure to control the water going into the reservoir prior to the breach. It also discusses Kilauea Irrigation's failure to maintain the dam and the state's failure to properly categorize and inspect the dam.

Let's all stop scapegoating Pflueger. This was a natural disaster, where many, including the state, will in hindsight wish they had acted differently.

Fred Trotter, a trustee of the Estate of James Campbell and a member of the Bank of Hawai'i board of directors, is a former irrigation superintendent for Kilauea Sugar Co. The views expressed here are his own. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.