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The Waiahole Ditch episode centres on the concrete question of how water diverted from windward Oahu streams through the historic ditch should be allocated as the Water Commission prepares to issue a new permit. Two attorneys on opposite sides of the contested case joined host Randall Roth to discuss the broader framework governing Hawaii water law and the specific facts in dispute. Alan Murakami, litigation director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, represented community groups on the windward side and argued that Native Hawaiian water rights and in-stream ecological uses must hold primacy over leeward agricultural demands. Douglas MacDougal, a partner at Ashford and Wriston representing the Campbell Estate, contended that a vital leeward farming economy depends on the continued diversion and that county-level rather than statewide allocation decisions would be preferable. Fred Trotter, chairman of the State Water Code Review Commission, had published a morning newspaper article on the controversy. Rae Loui was also listed among the guests. A caller identified by the host as Liz Martin, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Advisory Council, questioned whether the article adequately reflected the recommended hierarchy of water uses that placed in-stream and Hawaiian rights above other allocations.
Transcript
Read or download the full transcript (.txt). Speaker labels were assigned automatically and may contain errors.
Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
