Deputy Director
The duties of the Deputy Director for Water Resource Management are to administer and implement, under the direction of the Commission, the State Water Code and all rules, and other directives promulgated by the Commission. The Deputy Director must have experience in the area of water resources and is appointed by the Chairperson, subject to the approval of a majority of the Commission.
Ciara W. K. Kahahane, Deputy Director
Ciara W.K. Kahahane was born on Maui and raised in Lahaina, and attended Kamehameha Schools Maui. She is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies, and obtained her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law. From 2019 to 2021, she served as a law clerk to Judge Robert J. Faris, the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawai‘i.
For the year and a half preceding her appointment as Deputy Director, Kahahane worked in the Complex Litigation Division of the Department of the Attorney General. Her work involved representing the state in several noteworthy cases, including those with legal issues of statewide importance. On behalf of the state, she played a major role in negotiating and drafting the settlement agreement in Navahine F. et al. v. Department of Transportation, State of Hawaiʻi et al. She also coordinated, on behalf of the Attorney General, the comprehensive review and analysis of the Lahaina wildfires of August 2023 and supported the independent team of experts conducting the review.
Prior to that, she worked in the Public Safety, Hawaiian Home Lands and Housing Division of the Department of the Attorney General, where she provided litigation support as well as advice and counsel to the Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) on a wide variety of legal issues. In this role, Kahahane also assisted staff with the adoption and amendment of administrative rules, including rules governing the provision of water service by HHFDC. This is her first term as Deputy Director.