
Waiwai: Water and the Future of Hawai‘i
For over a century, business interests and political insiders controlled waters across the Hawaiian Islands to benefit a privileged few at the expense of stream ecology, taro farmers, and our islands’ future sustainability. With the future of Hawai‘i’s precious water resources at a critical stage, this book is a groundbreaking exploration of water in Hawaiʻi that bridges ancestral place-based knowledge with present challenges faced by community members, cultural activists, academics, scientists, and policymakers alike. In Waiwai: Water and the Future of Hawai‘i, Kamanamaikalani Beamer brings together experts from diverse fields to tackle complex issues in water management. Indigenous scholars recount how ancestral abundance revolved around the movement and health of water and articulate how these guiding principles transitioned to exploitation by plantation industrialists after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Legal scholars unpack the web of regulations governing water rights; scientists assess the damage already done to aquifers and ecosystems and suggest ways to improve them. The book also investigates environmental responsibility in the case of the fuel leak from the US Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, giving county officials and community advocates a chance to uplift the concerns of those most impacted by the devastating tragedy.