HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – In Hawaii, it’s hard to imagine recent history bigger or deeper than water.

First, there was the Red Hill fuel storage disaster, which will have consequences for years, even as the Navy removed fuel that sat for decades above the city’s main source of drinking water. Oahu.

SPECIAL SECTION: Water crisis in the navy

Then came the Lahaina wildfire that killed more than 100 people and destroyed the entire town, fueled by uncontrolled dry grass on the former sugar fields.

SPECIAL SECTION: Wildfires in Maui

West Maui was already the epicenter of the debate over who uses, controls and profits from our precious and often scarce water supply.

To get akamai on the issue, Hawaii News Now politics and government reporter Daryl Huff spoke with Dr. Jonathan Likeke Scheuer, chair of the East Maui Regional Community Council (water authority) and former president of the State Land Use Commission.

Scheuer explained:

• How the sugar industry took control of water in streams across the state.
• How Maui’s water policy relates to the Lahaina wildfire disaster.
• Whether commercial development can coexist with stream restoration and stream-based agriculture.
• State messages and actions regarding water policy.

Listen to this conversation via podcast:

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