Since the end of 2002, there has been a difference of opinion about which county body has the authority to declare drought conditions.

Council Chairman Riki Hokama told The Maui News on Wednesday he still thinks it's the council.

"The people have spoken. It's under the council and the mayor," he said.

The people spoke in 2002 when they adopted a county charter amendment that stripped the semi-autonomous Board of Water Supply of all but advisory functions.

Until then, it had been explicit that the board managed the department, which meant the board declared drought watches, warnings or emergencies. It was the board that devised the triggers for declaring problems existed.

The Department of Water Supply was responsible for monitoring and enforcing the board's directives. The council and the mayor had no role.

Now the department reports directly to the mayor, although the council has spent years arguing that it, too, has oversight since it gets to approve the water director.

It hired an outside lawyer to study the charter language. What he told the council has not been revealed. Michelle Anderson, chairwoman of the Water Resources Committee, has said the document comes under attorney-client privilege and is therefore not public.

Hokama said that he wished that Water Director Jeff Eng had shown the council the information that would support imposing restrictions and penalties.

He also said the council would have wanted to know "exactly how the effect of the regulations would be on residential use and how farm use would be affected."

He also would have wanted to review how the department plans to allocate water under 10 percent conservation measures.

"The council is the policy-making body."

Deputy Corporation Counsel Ed Kushi Jr., who advises the department, told the board that his position remains the same as last year – the department has the authority to declare a drought situation.

He said the water director was going to declare the warning this week no matter what. However, in order to avoid quarrels about who has the power, the department sought the board's concurrence. The board voted unanimously on the warning, although it debated whether it would have been better to declare an emergency that would require water use cutbacks to 25 percent.

One thing Kushi and Hokama agree on is that if the old board rules were adopted as a county ordinance, the question could be put to rest.

When the board lost its executive authority, its rules were carried over, pending enactment of old rules as new ordinances.

That's the council's job, but after more than four years, it hasn't taken action to establish clear rules and lines of authority.

Most of the rules cause no trouble. However, the rules state that the board declares droughts. The charter now says the board is advisory and has no executive functions.

That can change, said Hokama. In fact, it already has changed. The council has given the board the authority to act on appeals of department decisions.

"I'm sure the County Council will be taking this up in the future," Hokama said.