Our goal is to inform and empower you as a citizen to fight for your right to free-flowing water in the streams of your ahupua`a and the right of all of us who call Hawai`i home to sustainable water resources for life today and for future generations. Water has been managed as a public trust in Hawai`i from time immemorial. Before the arrival of Captain Cook, water was managed within the ahupua'a. It was the kuleana of everyone as stewards of the resources within their ahupua`a to malama i ka `aina. In the 19th Century, the Hawaiian Kingdom held Hawaii's rivers, streams, seashore, and ocean in trust for all its citizens. In granting land ownership interests during the Great Mahele (1848-1850) the Hawaiian Kingdom expressly reserved its sovereign rights to encourage and even to enforce the use and enjoyment of lands for the common good. In maintaining this sovereign right, a public trust was declared upon all the waters of the Kingdom. Today in Hawai`i, as in every community in the world faced with population growth and virtually unchecked development, there is a growing imbalance between water use and water resources in our ahupua`a. Aquifers are emptying faster than rains can recharge them. Streams and wells are adversely impacted because of diversions for development and large agribusinesses. Legislation is written and passed to protect landowners, often at the expense of sustainable water practices for the public good.
Hawaii's Thousand Friends believes that you will act when you understand your rights and protections under the State Water Code and when you see the erosion of our public resources due to lack of enforcement and improper implementation of the code. We invite you to join the host of activists who are committed to ensuring that the fresh water resources of Hawai`i remain sustainable for future generations.
HTF's Public Trust Brochure
Hawaii's Thousand Friends believes that you will act when you understand your rights and protections under the State Water Code and when you see the erosion of our public resources due to lack of enforcement and improper implementation of the code. We invite you to join the host of activists who are committed to ensuring that the fresh water resources of Hawai`i remain sustainable for future generations.
HTF's Public Trust Brochure
How Hawaii's miraculous natural groundwater (drinking water) system operates.
Hawaii's vulnerable aquifers (drinking water) are being routinely contaminated.
PowerPoint Presentation:
Na Mea Wai Apau - All Things Relating to Water
State Water Code (1987)
Hawaii's State Water Code declares all water of Hawaii a public trust.
It mandates “protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights, the protection and procreation of fish and wildlife, the maintenance of proper ecological balance and scenic beauty, and the preservation and enhancement of waters for municipal uses.”
The water code prohibits discharge of any substance into the water unless it is treated to render it harmless to water quality.
It mandates “protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights, the protection and procreation of fish and wildlife, the maintenance of proper ecological balance and scenic beauty, and the preservation and enhancement of waters for municipal uses.”
The water code prohibits discharge of any substance into the water unless it is treated to render it harmless to water quality.
Surface Water
Surface water in Hawaii is a valued resource as well as a potential threat to human lives and property. The surface water resources of Hawaii are of significant economic, ecologic, cultural, and aesthetic importance. Streams supply more than 50 percent of the irrigation water in Hawaii, and although streams supply only a few percent of the drinking water statewide, surface water is the main source of drinking water in some places. Streams also are a source of hydroelectric power, provide important riparian and in-stream habitats for many unique native species, support traditional and customary Hawaiian gathering rights and the practice of taro cultivation, and possess valued aesthetic qualities. Streams affect the physical, chemical, and aesthetic quality of receiving waters, such as estuaries, bays, and near-shore waters, which are critical to the tourism-based economy of the islands.
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Kalihi Community Resources Improvement Stream Project
Begun in 1998, HTF’s Kalihi Stream Project was an initiative to facilitate the improvement of a portion of Kalihi Stream adjacent to Kuhio Park Terrace and build community stewardship through regularly-scheduled stream cleanup days to remove trash and stream debris, eradicate invasive alien plants and plant indigenous plants. The cultural exchanges to the Windward and Leeward farms, fishponds and taro lo`i offered keiki the opportunity to learn about other places and ecosystems.
The Kalihi Stream Project was sustained until it ended in 2009, with Section 319 Polluted Runoff Control grants from the State Department of Health. HTF received additional funding from DOH Section 319 DOH grants, the National Fish and Wildlife Service, the Cooke Foundation, and the Hawai`i Community Foundation. Phase IV continued restoration and stream cleanup efforts; introduced stream educational material to area schools including field trips to the stream demonstration site; established stewardship programs and conducted a cultural exchange between Hoa Aina o Makaha in Waianae, a rural educational organization, and students from Kalihi. Stream cleanup
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2007 Kalakaua Middle School 7th, 8th 9th graders Water Monitoring Workshop and stream clean up
2007 Fern Elementary students planting dry land taro Ho'a Aina O Makaha
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