There is something polluting our water. Across Hawaii, political influence continues to surface, leading to questionable policy decisions and eroding public faith in the state as trustee of our wai. Nowhere is evidence of this political pollution more obvious than in Maui Komohana, where a century- long water war has only intensified following the horrific fires that devoured Lahaina in August of 2023.
House Bill 2690, Senate Draft 1, aims to implement decades-old recommendations to alleviate political interference in water policy. If passed, it would upgrade the state Commission on Water Resource Management’s (CWRM) administrative structure, better insulating it from politicking. The bill would also allow the commission to impose meaningful fines, while further providing the emergency powers needed to effectively respond to crises like those in Lahaina and at Kapukaki (Red Hill).
Despite overwhelming support for HB 2690, state Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair Dawn Chang flip-flopped on the bill throughout the legislative session, torpedoing key provisions along the way. She initially supported, then commented, and now opposes sections that would diminish her personal influence, and thus the governor’s influence, over the Water Commission’s decisionmaking. The other prominent dissenter is the state attorney general (AG), whose office has taken particular umbrage at a provision that would allow the Water Commission to seek independent counsel, when appropriate.
While Chang and the AG contend that their positions are about effective management of our resources, a deeper inquiry reveals a concerted effort by the Governor’s Office and influential political operatives to maintain their control and continue to exploit our water. If water is life, then this is an epic battle for the soul of Hawaii.
The fires laid bare a harsh truth. Despite robust legal protections and sound science, much of Hawaii’s water management still mirrors plantation-era policies that prioritize private interests over public benefits. This inversion of priorities played out in real time just days after the fires, when a single letter from a West Maui Land Company executive — one of the area’s largest water diverters — ignited a flurry of local and national reporting that laid blame for the state’s deadliest disaster at the feet of the Water Commission’s Deputy Director Kaleo Manuel and a handful of Native Hawaiian kalo farmers.
These baseless claims were quickly refuted by hydrologists, firefighters and community members. Nonetheless, the AG launched an investigation into Manuel’s conduct — and Chang, who by virtue of her appointment is also CWRM chair, unilaterally removed Manuel from his post. Chang later conceded that her decision was without input or approval from CWRM’s six other commissioners. It ultimately took 12 hours of public testimony and weeks more of public outcry before Chang corrected her decision and reinstated Deputy Manuel — though he later resigned, unable to function independently under Chang’s oversight.
During this same time, DLNR and the AG’s Office aligned themselves with Alexander & Baldwin and East Maui Irrigation — two of Maui’s largest diverters. In an attempt to increase A&B and EMI’s water allotment, the AG’s Office claimed that these landowners had insufficient water to fight fires in Upcountry Maui. Recognizing the claims as patently false, the Supreme Court denied the state’s petition outright.
HB 2690 is now heading to conference, where it is the only bill with the potential to improve Hawaii’s water security and future, and one of the last bills standing that would have an immediate impact on how Lahaina will rebuild.
Whose side will the lawmakers choose in this battle for Hawaii’s soul? Will they choose to address the systemic injustice that has plagued Hawaii’s water policy for over a century? Or will they allow politics to continue to pollute our water?
Kawai Scanlan and Dru Hara, third-year law students at the William S. Richardson School of Law, serve as the alakaʻi of ʻAhahui o Hawaiʻi, a student organization that has advocated for Native Hawaiian, environmental and social justice for the last 50 years.
