Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 5, 1 May 1993 — Molokaʻi Working Group charts island's future [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Molokaʻi Working Group charts island's future

by Patrick Johnston Moloka'i. Should it be the breadbasket of the state, the site of a future Hawaiian nation, or the playground of Japanese golfers? These are the questions being asked by the Moloka'i Working Group, a 17-member multi-inter-est organization established last fall to look at the issue of water allocation and make a recommendation on the island's future to th£ State Water Commission. Moloka'i has been designated a 'water management area' by the water commission because of projected water shortages. All water users must now apply for a license to tap water or divert it from rivers and streams, and the state closely monitors how water is distributed on the island. Water rights on Moloka'i are a contentious and emotional issue. Developers, ranchers, and residents, as well as the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and traditional farmers, are fighting about water rights-which to some is the future of the Hawaiian people and culture. Colette Machado, a working group member and advocate of native Hawaiian water rights, argues that if Hawaiian needs are not taken into consideration there won't be mueh Hawaiian left in Hawai'i. "This is our last battle, if they take the water away we will have nothing." Moloka'i's water issues are complex, highly charged and critically important for native Hawaiians. On top of the projected needs of DHHL, Japanese developer Tokyo Kosan (known locally as Kukui Moloka'i) is

looking at developing two, possibly three, golf courses on the island. Moloka'i Ranch, the largest landowner on the island, has new owners and needs water for planned livestock development. Alfa U.S.A., a massive Japanese-owned company whieh operates a resort area on the island, has significant resource

demands, and numerous single family homes are putting an ever increasing strain on water supply. Staff and budget shortages have made the water commission dependent on the Moloka'i Working Group to provide information about the island's water interests. The working group is important because it involves the community formulating what should be the final word on water development on the island. "The Water Code had inadequately addressed the needs of the island and the Commission

doesn't know what those needs are," explains Machado, adding, "the Commission will hold hard and fast to the decisions made by the group and we are going to fight hard for Hawaiian rights." Eric Hirano, the water commission representative on the group, qualifies this by saying, "Ultimately, the decision-making

is in the hands of the commission. ... But the input from the working group is important in that process." Now most water comes from the Kualapu'u reservoir and the Kualapu'u aquifer in central Moloka'i, surface and ground water sources that provide more than enough water for present water needs. The issue is the future. Without some sort of agreement on water allocation, Moloka'i will suffer serious water shortages into the next eentury.

"The working group was created to develop some sort of eonsensus with regard to water allocation on Moloka'i," explains Machado. "There is just not enough water around for everyone to get what they want." The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and the water code give "first eall" water privileges to Hawaiian home lands, rights strengthened by the fact that most of the Kualapu'u aquifer sits under Hawaiian homestead lands. Future demands by DHHL have reached as high as 30 million gallons of water a day, greater than Moloka'i's present developable level and more than 10 times what they are presently using. The huge increase would be used largely for agriculture and represents an attempt by Hawaiian homes and the Hawaiian eommunity in Moloka'i to assure themselves a prominent plaee in the future development of the island. Until recently DHHL had only been asking for 7 million gallons of water a day. DHHL water resource planner, Charlie iee, explains, "We wanted to put some pressure on the commission to look seriously at future homelands water needs." Their present position supports the view that Moloka'i become the breadbasket of the state. However, some question whether this level of development is in the best interest of the island, especially because allowing homelands to use most of the water would take it away from hospital and school projects, not to mention significantly alter the face of the island.

Rae Loui, Water Commission Deputy Director, said at the People's Water Conference last February, "We have to ask how realistic that number (the DHHL demand) is and whether people on Moloka'i want that kind of development." The large DHHL demand would also mean that a new water source would have to be found. While most experts point to the northeast, particularly the pristine Pelekunu valley as the ideal location, tapping this water would adversely affect river wildlife, an important part of native Hawaiian gathering rights also covered in the HHCA and the Water Code. Alan Holt of the Hawai'i Nature Conservancy and Moloka'i Working Group member, points out, "a number of members are concerned about the export of water from undeveloped streams. There is a general consensus that there should be streams where there is no eeonomie development so native Hawaiians will be able to gather 'ōpae and hīhīwai and other forms of stream wildlife." Holt added that discussions about water priorities have largely focused on agricultural and domestic needs with considerable emphasis on Hawaiian homes. Very little has been said about golf. The working group is entering the final round of negotiations and expects to give a recommendation to the Water Commission shortly. What they decide will go along way in determining what shape the Hawaiian nation will take into the next century.

Moloka'i homelands acreage Ho'olehua 13,076.26 acres Kalama'ula 5,116 acres Kapa'akea-Kamiloloa 5,183.34 acres Kalaupapa 1 , 247 acres Pālā'au Apana 1 548.70 acres Pālā'au Apana 3 226.42 acres