Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2010 — NĀ WAI ʻEHĀ RUUNG [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NĀ WAI ʻEHĀ RUUNG

'A miscarriage of justice'

By Sterling Wong The four major streams of Central Maui, known eollectively as Nā Wai 'Ehā, may see the return of less than a quarter of the water that is currently diverted from the area, as a result of a June 10 decision by the state Water Commission. The decision by the state Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) stems from a more than two-year-old contested case, in whieh several community groups, along with OHA, sought to restore water to the streams of Nā Wai 'Ehā to support, among other things, taro cultivation, stream life and recreational use. In making its decision, CWRM set aside the recommendation of Lawrence Miike, the commissioner with the most familiarity with the issue as a result of the time he spent serving as the hearings officer in the contested case. Miike had proposed to return about half of the 60 million to 70 million gallons of water per day (mgd) that is currently divertedfromNā Wai 'Ehā. Instead, CWRM ordered that only 12.5 mgd be restored. CWRM's ruling drew sharp criticism fromMiike. In his dissent filed with the June 10 ruling, Miike said that "by its decision, the majority (of the commission) has failed in its duties under the Constitution and the state Water Code as a trustee of the state's puhlie water resources." At the heart of the issue is a more than 100-year-old irrigation ditch system, whieh currently diverts the vast majority of water from the streams of Nā Wai 'Ehā for Maui's dying sugar industry, leaving large portions of the streams dry. Since 2004, taro farmers and community groups launched several efforts

to return water to the area, whose streams, extolled by Hawaiians in song, fed what was onee called the largest continuous area of taro cultivation in Hawai'i. CWRM's decision calls for the restoration of 10 mgd to Waihe'e River and 2.5 mgd to North and South Waiehu streams. However, its decision will not return any water to 'īao and Waikapū streams. "This is a miscarriaae of iustice. and it

will not stand," Isaac Moriwake, the attorney representing the community groups, said in a press release. "In the 21st century, the commission majority is still letting plantation politics, rather than the law, rule our most precious resource." The Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S), a division of Alexander & Baldwin Ine. and the state's last sugar company, currently diverts 50 mgd from Nā Wai 'Ehā. HC&S General Manager Christopher Benjamin said that CWRM's final decision is better for the struggling company and its 800 employees than what Miike had recommended. "Certainly the reduction of available surface water will make our business more challenging, as will the additional expense," Benjamin said in a press release. "On iniīial review, however, the commission's ruling, along with recent positive operating momentum at HC&S, seems to have left us with a fighting ehanee to survive." ■ Sterīing Wong is a Puhli.e Poli.cy Advocate at OHA.

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Contrary to a commissioner's recommendation, only [2.5 million gallons of water day will be restored to Waihe'e River and North and South Waiehu streams. 'īao and Waikapū streams, where Waikapū Diversion, pictured, diverts all mauka water, will get nothing restored. - Courtesy photo