There is a disturbing attempt to wrongfully blame Deputy Water Commissioner Kaleo Manuel and local taro farmers for the lack of water in the fire hydrants during the fire.  West Maui Land Company, Alexander Baldwin, Governor Josh Green, and others are using the disaster to try to permanently take more water and get rid of Hawaiian water rights.   

• Learn more and spread the word through your networks

• Follow @Kakoo_Haleakala

• Sign the petitiion

• Send emails to: 

• Dawn Chang, chair of the Hawaii BLNR dawn.chang@hawaii.gov

• Governor Josh Green 

Sample Text for your email.  Feel Free to Copy/Paste or send your own thoughts

To: DECISION MAKERS
From: [Your Name]

Stop the Theft of Maui Water and Uphold Stream Protections

West Maui Land Company is using the tragedy of the Lahaina wildfires and the Governor’s emergency proclamation as an excuse to undermine water rights and decades of community advocacy that helped restore Maui’s streams and protect small farmers from the exploitation of big business. 

Lahaina was historically a wetland, an area abundant in freshwater and a vibrant native ecosystem. But a century of excessive stream diversions took millions of gallons of freshwater from across Maui Komohana (West Maui) for private corporations– first sugar plantation owners and now luxury estates. 

One of these companies is West Maui Land Company: a real estate developer who sucked public streams dry in order to build hotels, golf courses, luxury homes, and colonial-style subdivisions. Their subsidiary is Launuipoko Irrigation Company, which takes all of the water from Kaua‘ula Stream to provide water for exotic landscaping, pools, golf courses, and decorative fountains.

On the day of the Lahaina fires, West Maui Land Company wrote a series of letters to the Governor and the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources requesting more stream water be diverted than allowed under state law in order to fill their water reservoirs for firefighting. The truth and reality is that the water reservoirs that West Maui Land Co. asked to fill up could NOT have been used to fight the Lahaina fires. This is because these reservoirs only serve the luxury estates above Lahaina, and are not connected to the county water system or any fire hydrants. Plus, the 80-mile-an-hour winds from Hurricane Dora meant no helicopters were allowed to make water drops. 

When West Maui Land Company’s request to divert water was not immediately granted, they insinuated that stream protections were to blame for the fire, going so far as to blame a single Hawaiian kalo farmer for the lack of water to fight the fire. This resulted in misleading media articles and ultimately Kaleo Manuel, Deputy Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Commission on Water Resources Management (Water Commission), being swiftly removed from his position. 

Kaleo helped to advance stream restoration throughout the state and served nearly four years on the Water Commission. He is the longest serving Water Commission Deputy Director and the first Native Hawaiian to serve in this position. 

West Maui Land Co. is exploiting the tragedy in Lahaina to further justify increasing water diversions under their corporate control. Not only did they unfairly position Kaleo Manuel as a scapegoat for decades-long debates over their own water misuse, but they are now asking the Water Commission to suspend and change the Water Management Designation Area of West Maui, which adds permitting and accountability for privatized commercial water use, now and into the future.

We, the undersigned, call on Governor Josh Green, Hawai‘i state legislators, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources to do the following: 

1. Recenter Maui Kama‘āina in the decisions about their future

2. Return Kaleo Manuel as the Deputy Director of the Commission on Water Resources Management

3. Reinstate the State Water Code 

4. Respect the Maui Komohana Water Management Area

5. Reinstate Sunshine Law to restore public meetings and decision making transparency 

The actions taken now by the state Government must ensure the long-term recovery and sustainability of Maui for future generations. Colonialism and climate change — not stream protections — are what created the conditions that spread the devastating wildfire in Lahaina.

There is a path forward that balances affordable housing needs, traditional and customary practices, and long term stream health. We can chart that course together so long as the greed of some is properly controlled.

E ola i ka wai. Water is life.