The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court recently issued another landmark decision on water resources and the public trust. The case, Kauai Springs v. Kauai Planning Commission, involved a company bottling and selling spring water on the island of Kauaʻi.
Under modern Hawaiʻi law, the rivers and streams in question (collectively known as Nā Wai ʻEhā—“The Four Great Waters” of Waihe‘e, ʻĪao (traditionally Wailuku), Waiehu, and Waikapū) are a public trust; but since the sugar plantation era, two companies drained them dry for private profit.
