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CHMaui County Mayor Richard Bissen lays out his priorities for 2026 in his fourth State of the County Address tonight.
Some of his priorities include kamaʻāina housing, fire recovery efforts, supporting local businesses and a balanced visitor industry.
We’re also hearing there will be a big announcement regarding water in West Maui.
It’s estimated that nearly 80 percent of water on Maui is controlled by private companies. That has led to water shortages and delayed development.
Critics say it’s made setting policies for water nearly impossible.
But that may soon all change because the county is working toward acquiring multiple water systems in West Maui. Some Lahaina residents have been fighting for this for decades.
“It’s something that we’ve been fighting for years and years and years, probably close to 20 years. The imbalance in who controls the water resources on the west side was just heavily in private holdings, up to 77% and the count of only 23%. So it was our goal for a while now to try and get a lot of that control back into at least government holdings,” said West Maui water advocate Kekai Keahi.
We’re told the deal is still pending.
But once it is finalized, it will be historic.
These water systems have been privately owned since the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Plantation owners diverted the streams to irrigate sugarcane fields miles away.
We will have a full recap tonight on @hawaiinewsnow.
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@chelseadavishnn
