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The recent Maui wildfires have raised both old and new issues around water security in Hawaii. Water allocation or who gets how much has always been an issue in Hawaii.

The issues are now magnified with the call for affordable housing, unused agricultural lands that fuel deadly wildfires, contamination of our aquifer from fuel leaks, and a changing climate with less reliable rainfall.

Hawaii has one of the world’s most aspirational water policies for a reason. We are an isolated island chain, and our economies and health of our citizens are dependent on ensuring our water security future.

We have indigenous cultures and communities, who evolved with flowing water in their streams, with legitimate historic and current grievances about loss of their water rights. We have unique species that are dependent on flowing waters from the mountains to the sea.  

The 1978 Constitutional Convention made major changes in how Hawaii manages its freshwater resources. Water policy was further institutionalized by the Legislature in the 1986 State Water Code and clarified in subsequent court cases.

Simply stated, there is no private ownership of water in Hawaii — it is a public trust. 

Priority Areas

The trustees of the state Commission on Water Resource Management have four priority trust areas which are equally protected under the law:

• maintenance of waters in their natural state;
• domestic water use of the general public, particularly drinking water;
• the exercise of Native Hawaiian and traditional and customary rights; and
• reservations of water for Hawaiian Home Lands.

Hawaii’s water policies have served us well, but the challenge now is to establish a more comprehensive and integrated approach, moving from less conflict to more cooperation. Dedicated support for watershed management, water monitoring, infrastructure support for water conservation and reuse, upgrading dams and reservoirs, forest stewardship, private land assistance programs, and contested case reform are all areas of opportunity.  

Areas To Consider

But we should tread lightly and appreciate the current policies which have served us well. Important areas of opportunity and context to consider in future discussion on reforming Hawaii’s water policies include:

• Water policy in Hawaii resolves itself in a mix of science, politics, economics, and values. The ongoing debate between water as a right and water as a commodity is a false choice. It is both. The challenge is finding the right balance and developing a governance framework to monitor, assess, and adapt as needed.
• While Hawaii took a bold move in codifying water as a public trust,  it never fully developed an economic framework to support it. The public trust is not free. Managing forest watersheds and maintaining stream health take dedicated funding from the public sector, more than the counties can raise through their water fees.
• The demise of the large plantation export agricultural era has created a welcome opportunity to revive a sustainable foods system. It can only be seized through investment in repair, modernization and maintenance of century-old infrastructure that can be operated to support both irrigation needs, as well as public trust uses.
• Roles and responsibilities between the state and county government entities to implement monitoring, assessment, and enforcement protocol need to be clarified, with full public disclosure.
• The majority of our dams and reservoirs have become liabilities, especially for private landowners.  Investments are needed to address safety concerns and to capture valuable public benefits that include flood control, wildfire protection, water storage for agriculture, and recreation.
• We cannot manage what we do not measure. As we enter an era of climate unpredictability, sustainable yields need to be accurate and timely and more monitoring wells and enhanced reporting from water users are needed.