An opinion piece by Naomi Klein and Kapuaʻala Sproat. Naomi Klein is the professor of climate justice and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia. Kapuaʻala Sproat is a Professor of Law at Ka Huli Ao Native Hawaiian Law Center & the Environmental Law Program. She also co-directs the…
Leina‘ala Ley, Attorney, Mid-Pacific Office, Earthjustice: “KIUC admits it has not used water from the two diversions for the past two and a half years, and will not be able to use water for the foreseeable future because it has not repaired the siphon and it does not have plans, currently, to contract for those…
In the News: Honolulu Star AdvertiserJune 30, 2021
Isaac Moriwake, Managing Attorney, Mid-Pacific Office, Earthjustice: “This is a model for 21st-century water management for all of Hawaii. We owe it to the community who carried the burden for this, and to future generations, to get it right.”
Isaac Moriwake, Managing Attorney, Mid-Pacific Office, Earthjustice: “There’s no question that this is a historic move forward, in terms of shifting from the old plantation paradigm of draining rivers and streams dry to now recognizing the need to protect flowing rivers and streams.”
As Big Sugar plantations release their grip on the islands, local and Native Hawaiian communities are reclaiming their water rights and restoring their deep-rooted ties to the land.
Agreement concluding a year-long mediation involving Pōʻai Wai Ola, the state-run Agribusiness Development Corporation, the Kekaha Agriculture Association, the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative. Under the agreement, tens of millions of gallons of water each day will be restored to the Waimea River and its headwaters, and no diversion will ever be a total diversion again.
Maui community groups Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā and Maui Tomorrow Foundation, represented by Earthjustice, filed a legal petition to the state Commission on Water Resource Management to increase the flows in Nā Wai ʻEhā—Maui’s “Four Great Waters” of Waiheʻe River, Waiehu Stream, Wailuku River, and Waikapū Stream—based on the recent announcement by Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. that it will shut down its Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar plantation by year’s end.
After years of citizen action and court battles, "The Four Great Waters" of Maui are finally coming back to life. But the larger fight to uphold public and native Hawaiian water rights continues.
See major milestones in the legal fight to uphold water as a public trust, stop wasteful water diversions, and restore the "Four Great Waters" of Maui.
After 150 years, flow returned to two streams on Maui that had been diverted for more than 150 years by private corporations. Watch a video of the day water finally returned.
Millions of gallons of water from industrial diversions return and restore flows to culturally significant waters
Make Every Day Earth Day.
In honor of Earth Day and the fight for the wild spaces we love, the air we breathe, the water we drink — any gift you make for the month of April will be matched $2:$1!