CWRM
water 
policy Commission on Water Resource Management — the state agency regulating water withdrawals in Hawai’i.
In June 2022, the Commission on Water Resource Management designated the Lahaina Aquifer Sector as a Water Management Area, shifting permit authority from county to state level. This designation — predating the fire by fourteen months — now governs every rebuilding effort. State water use permits stack on top of county building permits. The regulatory architecture was designed for resource conservation, not emergency reconstruction.
Water is no longer a guaranteed right attached to land ownership. All users must apply for Water Use Permits; the Commission must prioritize public trust purposes — traditional usage, DHHL allocations — over other uses. The Kahana Well, coming online early 2026 with 0.96 MGD capacity, will reduce but not eliminate the deficit. The CWRM also regulates Interim Instream Flow Standards for surface water diversions across the plantation-era ditch network, setting flow requirements at intake structures including the Aotaki Weir on the Honokohau Ditch and the Kauaʻula diversion feeding the Pioneer Mill hydroelectric plant.