Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 11, 1 November 2014 — Tears of joy accompany return of water to Nā Wai ʻEhā [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Tears of joy accompany return of water to Nā Wai ʻEhā

But more work remains at Maui's 'Four Great Waters,' community members say By OHA Staff

n the latest sign of progress in the Nā Wai 'Ehā case, water returned Oct. 13 to two streams in Central Maui for the first time in more than century. The Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., whieh is a division of Alexander & Baldwin Ine., released the water from their diversions in Waikapū and Wailuku that had drained the streams dry. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Earthjustice joined with community groups Hui o Nā Wai 'Ehā and Maui Tomorrow Foundation, to celebrate the water's return to the last two remaining streams seeking justice in the much-publicized case.

"This is a significant day," said Walter 1 Kamaunu of Hui o Nā Wai 'Ehā. "The water has been returned." This restoration of stream iiow occurred more than two years after the Hawai'i Supreme Court ruled in the Nā Wai 'Ehā case in favor of OHA, Earthjustice and a broad-based allianee of farmers, cultural practitioners, environmentalists and their supporters. "This case not only benefits Native Hawaiians, but it strengthens the broader Hawai'i," said Kamana'opono Crabbe, Ka Pouhana and CEO at OHA. "Everyone benefits from water. It's a puhlie trust, for all agricultural farmers and for the greater good of people who want to enjoy it for recreation, and most of all, elean drinking water for everyone. This is a puhlie eoneem, but it's also a puhlie benefit for everyone throughout the state." In April, the state Commission on Water Resource Management approved a settlement in whieh Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar agreed to restore up to 10 million gallons a day to

Wailuku River and 2.9 million gallons a day to Waikapū Stream. The settlement also maintained the restoration of 10 million gallons a day and 2.5 million gal-

lons a day to Waihe'e River and Waiehu Stream, respectively, whieh the commission had ordered in 2010. "It took years of waiting and lobbying the eommission, then it took a contested case hearing up to the Supreme Court, back down, and then it took everyone agreeing that it was time to reach a reso-

lution of this part of the case," said Pam Bunn, an attorney for OHA. "It means that communities ean make a difference. They ean, by speaking truth to power and insisting on their rights they

ean make a difference." The decade-old Nā Wai 'Ehā case had thrust into a spotlight the law in Hawai'i that water is a puhlie trust and not private property, and that such resources cannot be diverted without considering the impact on Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices, stream and oeean ecosystems, and drinking water. For some, the water's return to Waikapū and Wailuku signaled another step forward in ongoing community efforts to enforce the law and stop companies from draining rivers and streams dry while hoarding the water for private profit. Most importantly, the same attention must extend to East Maui and across the islands, where 90 percent of Hawai'i's streams continue

| being diverted. "We join with the community and OHA i in celebrating this hard-won and longawaited restoration of stream flows," said Isaac Moriwake, an attorney for Earthjustice. "While more work and continued I vigilance will be needed to protect these i resources, we take this moment to witsi ness another step in the march of progress j for these streams and others throughout i Hawai'i nei." Community members called on the \ state Water Commission to hold diverters, such as Wailuku Water Co. and Hawaiian j Commercial & Sugar, accountable to the » settlements that have been reached.

Hōkūao Pellegrino of Hui o Nā Wai 'Ehā was among those to raise the issue at recent hearings in Kahului. "What occurred after five months was no engineering feat, it was a lifted-up plywood board with a stick holding up that sluice gate and a stone underneath that sluice gate," Pellegrino said. He also mentioned that problems remain with sticks and stones, delays in covering intake grates, incorrect locations for meter gauges and unreliable measuring systems. In addition, parts of 'īao and Waikapū streams remain dry. There is also work to be done to ensure, for example, that the remaining diversion dams are modified to enahle passage of native stream life. "If the 'o'opu eome from the oeean and get right here, what are they going to do?" asked John Duey of Hui o Nā Wai 'Ehā. "They have dry rock; they can't survive on dry rock, so we got to get connectivity from here for the other 1,000 feet, so we still got a problem." Pellegrino added: "If we want to see this stream flow mauka to makai, this is the time

to push, because, these guys, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow. So mahalo, please kāko'o us, support us, and continue to push for mauka to makai flow." ■

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LAND & WATER

Water is released from a valve above Kepaniwai Park in Wailuku, Maui, on Ocf 1 3 as part of a seftlement agreement reached in April. - Photos: Aliee Silbanuz

John Duey, left, and members of Hui of Nā Wai 'Ehā locked in an embrace and overcome with emotion after the water release at 'īao Stream. The return of water to Nā Wai 'Ehā is historic and vital to the well-being of the community. Mueh more work needs to be done in Nā Wai 'Ehā and elsewhere, notably East Maui. The legal precedent set by the case will be vital to future successes that will be pursued beyond Nā Wai 'Ehā.