Hawaii Water Plan:
Water Resource Protection Plan
The Commission is responsible for the preparation of the Water Resource Protection Plan (WRPP), which is a key component of the Hawaii Water Plan. The objective of the WRPP is to protect and sustain ground and surface water resources, watersheds, and natural stream environments statewide. Such protection requires a comprehensive study of occurrence, sustainability, conservation, augmentation, and other resource management measures.
Specifically, the State Water Code provides that the WRPP shall include, but not be limited to:
- Nature and occurrence of water resources in the State;
- Hydrologic units and their characteristics, including the quantity and quality of available resource, requirements for beneficial instream uses and environmental protection, desirable uses worthy of preservation by permit, and undesirable uses for which permits may be denied;
- Existing and contemplated uses of water, as identified in the water use and development plans of the State and the counties, their impact on the resources, and their consistency with objectives and policies established in the water resource protection quality plan; and
- Programs to conserve, augment, and protect the water resource.
Recognizing the wide-ranging scope of the WRPP, the Commission is developing the WRPP in phases. It will take many iterations before the WRPP can address the many elements, measures, and programs related to water resource protection and management.
Top2008 Water Resource Protection Plan Update
The Commission recently adopted an updated Water Resource Protection Plan (WRPP). The updated WRPP includes policies, program directives, resource inventories, and recommendations across a broad spectrum of resource management issues. Efforts supporting this update focused on the following tasks:
- Declaration of Commission policies, goals, and objectives, including applicable Supreme Court rulings, Decision and Orders, Declaratory Rulings, and pertinent regulatory actions approved and/or adopted by the Commission;
- Update of ground water hydrologic units and sustainable yields;
- Establishment of surface water hydrologic units and a stream coding system, and the development of a surface water diversion database;
- Explanation and description of the Commission’s surface water management program and implementation plan;
- Development of statewide ground and surface water monitoring program priorities;
- Examination of water conservation and augmentation alternatives, drought preparedness and mitigation actions, and watershed protection programs; and
- Development of recommendations for future actions and funding requirements.
The updated WRPP is intended to provide for more successful coordination and integration of State and county efforts related to sustainable water resource development and to enable the Commission to more effectively implement the statutory objectives of the State Water Code. Regularly updating the WRPP and other components of the HWP will facilitate the counties’ integration of updated information into their respective water use and development plans. Revision of HWP components through a “living document” approach provides county and State decision makers with well-formulated options and strategies for addressing future water resource management and development issues.
Submittal: Adoption of 2008 Water Resource Protection Plan Update
Download Entire Document [32 MB]
Download Document by Sections
Cover Page and Table of Contents [280 KB]Section 1 - Introduction [470 KB]
Section 2 - General Water Resource Management Principles and Policies [770 KB]
Section 3 - Inventory and Assessment of Resources [28 MB]
Section 4 - Monitoring of Water Resources [1.5 MB]
Section 5 - CWRM Regulatory Programs [160 KB]
Section 6 - Existing and Future Demands [363 KB]
Section 7 - Resource Conservation and Augmentation [252 KB]
Section 8 - Drought Planning [189 KB]
Section 9 - Watershed Protection [446 KB]
Section 10 - Water Quality [110 KB]
Section 11 - Priority Recommendations and Implementation Plan [124 KB]
Section 12 - References [132 KB]
Appendix A - Planning Context for the WRPP [71 KB]
Appendix B - CWRM Permit Process Diagrams [191 KB]
Appendix C - 1989 Declared Surface Water Use [68 KB]
