(a) When used in this section: (1) The term "water license" means any license issued by the board of land and natural resources granting to any person the right to the use of government-owned water; and(2) The term "surplus water" means so much of any government-owned water covered by a water license or so much of any privately owned water as is in excess of the quantity required for the use of the licensee or owner, respectively.(b) All water licenses issued after the passage of this Act shall be deemed subject to the condition, whether or not stipulated in the license, that the licensee shall, upon the demand of the department, grant to it the right to use, free of all charge, any water which the department deems necessary adequately to supply the livestock, aquaculture operations, agriculture operations, or domestic needs of individuals upon any tract.(c) In order adequately to supply livestock, the aquaculture operations, the agriculture operations, or the domestic needs of individuals upon any tract, the department is authorized (1) to use, free of all charge, government-owned water not covered by any water license or covered by a water license issued after the passage of this Act or covered by a water license issued previous to the passage of this Act but containing a reservation of such water for the benefit of the public, and (2) to contract with any person for the right to use or to acquire, under eminent domain proceedings similar, as near as may be, to the proceedings provided in respect to land by sections 101-10 to 101-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the right to use any privately owned surplus water or any government-owned surplus water covered by a water license issued previous to the passage of this Act, but not containing a reservation of such water for the benefit of the public. Any such requirement shall be held to be for a public use and purpose. The department may institute the eminent domain proceedings in its own name.(d) The department is authorized, for the additional purpose of adequately irrigating any tract, to use, free of all charge, government-owned surplus water tributary to the Waimea river upon the island of Kauai, not covered by a water license or covered by a water license issued after July 9, 1921. Any water license issued after that date and covering any such government-owned water shall be deemed subject to the condition, whether or not stipulated therein, that the licensee shall, upon the demand of the department, grant to it the right to use, free of all charge, any of the surplus water tributary to the Waimea river upon the island of Kauai, which is covered by the license and which the department deems necessary for the additional purpose of adequately irrigating any tract. Any funds which may be appropriated by Congress as a grant-in-aid for the construction of an irrigation and water utilization system on the island of Molokai designed to serve Hawaiian home lands, and which are not required to be reimbursed to the federal government, shall be deemed to be payment in advance by the department and lessees of the department of charges to be made to them for the construction of such system and shall be credited against such charges when made.
(e) All rights conferred on the department by this section to use, contract for, or acquire the use of water shall be deemed to include the right to use, contract for, or acquire the use of any ditch or pipeline constructed for the distribution and control of such water and necessary to such use by the department.(f) Water systems in the exclusive control of the department shall remain under its exclusive control; provided that the department may negotiate an agreement to provide for the maintenance of the water system and the billing and collection of user fees. If any provision or the application of that provision is inconsistent with provisions contained in this section, this section shall control. Water systems include all real and personal property together with all improvements to such systems acquired or constructed by the department for the distribution and control of water for domestic or agricultural use.
Am Aug. 1, 1956, c 855, §§2, 3, 70 Stat 915; am L 1963, c 207, §§2, 5(b); am Const Con 1978 and election Nov. 7, 1978; am L 1981, c 90, §10; am L 1984, c 36, §1; am L 1990, c 24, §1Law Journals and Reviews
Native Hawaiian Homestead Water Reservation Rights: Providing Good Living Conditions for Native Hawaiian Homesteaders. 25 UH L. Rev. 85.
Although the Hawaii administrative rules denominate aquifer-specific reservations of water to the department of Hawaiian home lands, such a limitation for purposes of water resource management does not divest the department of its right to protect its reservation interests from interfering water uses in adjacent aquifers. 103 Hawai'i. 401, 83 P.3d 664. Insofar as the commission on water resource management, as the agency authorized to administer the state water code, determines the contents of the Hawaii water plan, which includes the designation of hydrologic units and sustainable yields, and the commission's "interpretation of its own rules is entitled to deference unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the underlying legislative purpose", it is within the commission's authority to limit reservations of water to specific aquifers. 103 H. 401, 83 P.3d 664. Where commission on water resource management failed to render the requisite findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to whether applicant had satisfied its burden as mandated by the state water code, it violated its public trust duty to protect the department of Hawaiian home lands' reservation rights under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the state water code, the state constitution, and the public trust doctrine in balancing the various competing interests in the state water resources trust. 103 Hawai'i. 401, 83 P.3d 664. Where commission on water resource management's findings supporting its conclusion that the proposed use of water would not interfere with department of Hawaiian home lands' reservation rights under this section failed to address whether the proposed user had adduced sufficient evidence with respect to the impact of the proposed use on the department's reservation in the adjacent aquifer system, commission erred in concluding that proposed user had met its burden under § 174C-49 to obtain a water use permit. 103 Hawai'i. 401, 83 P.3d 664.
Board of land and natural resources empowered to prepare irrigation plans, see §§ 174-5, 174-6.