Overview

To continue the work towards growing resilient, sustainable, adaptive, and sound community-based water governance in Maui Komohana, the “Kahuwai Coalition” will provide leadership for organizing, educating and conducting outreach such that the community can be informed on the systems, governance, data, and technical aspects of all forms of wai – a public trust without exception or distinction. 

‍

Challenge

The lived experience of kanaka in Maui Komohana for the last 150 years has included our daily witnessing of the gulf between what Hawai`i law says should happen with wai and what actually happens in our communities and our homelands.

Wai in Hawai`i is a Public Trust resource, not owned by anyone but held in trust for the benefit of the people. This principle comes to us from ancient tradition and was incorporated by our Mō`ī and Ali`i into the first laws of our Kingdom, including the Constitution of 1840 and the Kuleana Act of 1850. However, from the time of the passage of those first laws until today, our colonial context has resulted in those laws and principles being repeatedly ignored and violated.  

Continuous struggles and advocacy surrounding wai across the Pae `Āina have led to continued legal victories for kanaka, from the kuleana holders in our Kaua`ula Valley in Horner v. Kumuli`ili`i in 1895, through the 1978 amendments to the State Constitution that reaffirmed that water is a public trust resource, the 1987 passage of the Water Code, the Waiāhole Water Case in 2000, and court victories in Maui Hikina, Nā Wai `Ehā, Molokai, Kaua`i Springs, and elsewhere.

Time and again, Hawai`i’s courts have unambiguously declared that public trust uses of water are supposed to be accommodated before private commercial uses of water. These public trust uses of water include water set aside for kuleana lots awarded in the Māhele (appurtenant rights), water left in its natural state (like streams flowing mauka to makai), water used in the exercise of Traditional and Customary practices, water reserved for and used by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for homesteading, and domestic uses for the community.  

Despite these legal victories, Maui Komohana has faced over 150 years of harmful water management in violation of the Public Trust. We have directly witnessed and continue to deal with:

• Displacement of Native Hawaiians from their ‘āina kuleana:
  
  • Plantation infrastructure has been expanded and “modernized” and original ʻauwai systems have been damaged, destroyed and or had their water illegally diverted, preventing kuleana usage;
  • Landowners have illegally blocked access for kuleana ʻohana to utilize wai and to gather resources;
• Depletion of resources:
  
  • Honokōhau, Kanahā, Kahoma, Kauaula and other valleys have had their water depleted with insufficient wai left to grow kalo (taro);
  • Water flows mauka to makai have been blocked, impacting limu and fish populations in the near shore as well as o`opu, `opae and other stream species;
  • Dried out streams allow invasive species to encroach into streams, and then when stormwaters come these give way, restrict flow, and cause the streams to breach its banks and inundate kalo and other farms like in the 2018 flood in Honokōhau;
  • In many areas we are approaching or exceeding sustainable yield, and yet still developers are developing more wells;
• Environmental degradation:
  
  • R-1 has been pumped in injection wells and damaged ocean resources for decades; 
  • Salinity levels are increasing in wells, due to overpumping of aquifers causing salt-water intrusion;
  • Watersheds are degrading, reducing their ability to recharge water;
  • The application and dumping of pesticides and fertilizers have caused long lasting harm to groundwater;
  • Other negligent acts which unfold out of public view harm our water resources (illegal dumping, etc.);
• Inequitable water distribution:
  
  • Short-Term Rentals (STRs) use excessive amount of  water as compared to residents (long-term rentals or homeowners);
  • Mismanagement of water delivery has left agricultural producers without water, leading to direct loss of income; 
  • Establishment of luxurious developments on agricultural lands, enabled by private water systems and resulting in excessive use of water sources (e.g., swimming pools, landscaping practices, golf courses, etc.);
  • Private purveyors are not maintaining infrastructure including reservoirs and ditches, leading to wasteful water management;
  • Unbalanced private control of water systems- 23% public vs  77% private;
  • Water restrictions for users on public water systems, but not private systems; 
  • Sorely needed new housing delayed by refusal of water permits;
• Disconnection from our resources and knowledge of our resources:
  
  • Lack of information and advocacy training in our broader educational system;
  • Lack of transparency on how water is managed and used;
  • Lack of comprehensive analysis to connect different types of data (i.e., well pumping, stream flow, cultural use) and holistically synthesize the combined impacts of current water use and future projections and needs; 
• Removal of the community from their rightful role in water governance:
  
  • Power has been given to governing bodies who are not qualified to make those decisions; 
  • A Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) that should be but has not practically been autonomous.

‍

Since before Horner v. Kumuli`ili`i through today, our community has continued to fight for the proper management of wai.  Successes have included:

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

• Increasing the understanding of our water challenges across our community;
• Increased oversight and accountability of private purveyors to community;
  
  • Established nonprofit (Nā Mamo)
• Educating youth especially in Kula Kaiapuni about wai; 
• Increasing attendance at community meetings on wai and related issues; community members contributing to stream monitoring efforts;
• Involvement of community in lo`i and native food system restoration;

‍

GOVERNANCE:

• Established Interim Instream Flow Standards (IFS) for Maui Komohana streams
• Succeeded in securing Water Management Area (WMA) designation of Maui Komohana;
• Consistent partnership with CWRM to identify water systems and data; 
• Supported legislative policy for water protections for Lahaina and elsewhere (e.g. Red Hill O`ahu);
• Successfully passed  Resolution 10-79 with Maui County that recognizes United States Public Law 103-150; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948; The International Covenant on civil and political rights of 1966; and the International Covenant on economic, social, and cultural rights of 1966;

‍

MĀLAMA `ĀINA:

• Restored more `auwai and loʻi for growing kalo;
• Advocated successfully against harmful, irresponsible developments; and 
• Helped secure water for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) from the Mahinahina surface water treatment plant.

‍

Team members

• Project Leads: Carolyn Auweloa
• Community Partners: Hawaii Farmers Union - Lahaina Chapter, Lahaina Strong, Ka Malu o Kahalawai, Nā Māmo Aloha ʻĀina o Honokohau, Nā ʻAikane o Maui, Lahaina Community Land Trust, Kauaula kalo farmers, Jonathan Likeke Scheuer

‍