New Water Laws in Hawaii

New Water Resource Laws Deal with water Scalping, Hawaiian Fishponds

Governor David Ige signed three bills into law today relating to Water Resource Management that deal with hydroelectric facilities, water scalping and Native Hawaiian fishponds.

During a bill signing ceremony he said, “I think for all of us who live in HawaiÊ»i really understand how important a resource clean water is. These three measures that I’ll be signing will really help us to utilize that water in a way that hopefully is more sustainable, and obviously gives us more options.”

House Bill 393 waives Department of Health water quality certification requirements for restoration, repair, and operation of Hawaiian loko i‘a or fishponds, administered by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“We do know that Native Hawaiians really had a different view of our natural resources and were able to sustain a larger population in these islands using sustainable methods. Hawaiian fishponds were an integral part of that for producing food that we eat,” said Gov. Ige at today’s bill signing ceremony.

“We do know that applying today’s regulations to Hawaiian fishponds is truly trying to force a square peg into a round hole. I know that there are different views on this, but I do believe exempting Hawaiian Fishponds really makes common sense in allowing us to move forward in this very specific effort,” said Gov. Ige.

Source: mauinow

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• Resource Management
• Water Law
• Water Governance