But the company got out of the pineapple business more than a decade ago. And in recent years, the suit alleges, Maui Land & Pineapple has neglected its water system, causing \u201cwidespread harm to all who rely on the Honok\u014dhau Stream and Ditch System, including farmers, residents, businesses, and government entities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/240805-kf-Wahiawa-Dam-370-1024x682.jpg\")
Now primarily a real estate and resort business, Maui Land & Pineapple got out of the pineapple business more than a decade ago. (Kevin Fujii\/Civil Beat\/2024)<\/p>\n
Yanai\u2019s Honolulu-based TY Management Corp. owns and operates the Kapalua Plantation and Kapalua Bay golf courses, which it acquired from Maui Land & Pineapple, and has contracts under which Maui Land & Pineapple is supposed to provide non-potable irrigation water to the courses. The suit alleges that hasn\u2019t been happening.<\/p>\n
Joining Yanai are several residential developments and homeowners associations, which say they also have contractual relationships with Maui Land & Pineapple through\u00a0Hawai\u02bbi Water Service<\/a>, whose assets Maui Land & Pineapple previously owned.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the 154 days leading up to the suit\u2019s filing, the complaint says, Yanai and his fellow plaintiffs \u201chave been restricted to using no irrigation water for 136 days, and restricted [to] using only forty percent of their historical irrigation water usage for the remaining 18 days.\u201d<\/p>\n The suit, which was filed Monday in Hawai\u02bbi Circuit Court on Maui, asks the court to require Maui Land & Pineapple to honor its agreements and \u201cundertake all commercially reasonable steps necessary to inspect, repair, and maintain the Ditch System \u2026 in a condition adequate for the reliable delivery of water.\u201d<\/p>\n Yanai\u2019s attorney,\u00a0Grant Allison<\/a>, declined to comment, citing the pending suit. Maui Land & Pineapple\u2019s chief executive Race Randle said in a written statement that\u00a0the suit appears to be part of the plaintiffs\u2019 continuing efforts to obtain irrigation water \u201cwhen West Maui is experiencing a historic drought.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are following the clear guidance from the Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM) to prioritize streamflow and traditional and customary uses, followed by delivery to the County of Maui to provide drinking water for Lahaina. We will continue to follow CWRM\u2019s guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n New Twist On West Maui Water Struggles<\/p>\n The suit underscores the critical state of West Maui\u2019s water supply. The state\u2019s water commission has\u00a0designated West Maui a special Water Management Area<\/a>, established for areas where \u201cserious disputes respecting the use of surface water resources are occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n The designation requires water users to obtain permits for new water uses and allows the commission to set\u00a0standards<\/a>\u00a0to ensure streams, including those feeding Maui Land & Pineapple\u2019s Honok\u014dhau system, have an adequate flow of water to support things like aquatic life, recreation and Native Hawaiian cultural practices, including taro farming.<\/p>\n Yanai\u2019s suit adds a new wrinkle to the West Maui water disputes, arguing that Kapalua\u2019s water shortages are not simply the result of less rainfall in the area, but rather Maui Land & Pineapple\u2019s failure to maintain its system of dams, ditches and reservoirs so the company can keep providing water to users even in times of drought.<\/p>\n The suit cites U.S. Geological Survey data showing that the watershed region receives more annual rainfall than Seattle and Portland.<\/p>\n \u201cWater is scarce not because rain is falling in significantly smaller quantities,\u201d the suit alleges. \u201cRather, water is scarce because MLP has failed to honor its promises to maintain the infrastructure used to collect, carry, and store it properly.\u201d<\/p>\n It adds: \u201cMaking matters worse, MLP has repeatedly said that it is planning to develop new luxury residences, hotels, and even a new golf course, all while it claims there is not enough water for the existing Kapalua community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Maui Land & Pineapple\u2019s origins date to 1903, when Henry and David Baldwin started ranching cattle and growing pineapple on the island. In the 1970s, the company expanded into real estate development with its Kapalua Resort. It got out of the pineapple business in 2010. Its three\u00a0main business areas<\/a>\u00a0are now land development and sales, leasing and resort amenities.<\/p>\n Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.<\/p>\n Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.<\/p>\n Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/p>\n \n Sorry. That’s an invalid e-mail.\n <\/p>\n \n Thanks! We’ll send you a confirmation e-mail shortly.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lawsuit argues that Kapalua\u2019s water shortages are not simply the result of less rainfall in the area,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-95476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/lahaina2-rotated.jpg\")
A state worker measures water levels in the Maui Land & Pineapple Co.\u2019s Honok\u014dhau ditch system, which is at the center of a lawsuit. (Photo: Hawai\u02bbi Commission on Water Resource Management) <\/p>\n![\"Civil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753322412_339_logo10.png\"){kind=logo}
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