Hawaii HOA Water Conservation

Section 1: Overview — How water conservation interacts with HOA authority in Hawaii

Hawaii has no statute limiting an association's power over water-efficient landscaping. Search the two chapters that govern Hawaii community associations — the Hawaii Condominium Property Act, HRS Chapter 514B, for condominiums, and the Hawaii Planned Community Associations Act, HRS Chapter 421J, for planned communities — and no provision protects drought-tolerant or xeriscape landscaping, native or low-water plantings, artificial turf, or water-efficient irrigation from association restriction.^1,2 Water-related landscaping rules in Hawaii communities come instead from the recorded declaration and its architectural-control provisions, the Condominium Property Act's general use-restriction framework for condominiums, the Nonprofit Corporations Act, HRS Chapter 414D, for corporate formalities of associations organized as nonprofits, and county water and building rules.^3,12 Hawaii's public-trust water framework, administered under the State Water Code by the Commission on Water Resource Management, governs who may withdraw water and how much — it doesn't bear on whether an association may regulate a homeowner's plantings.⁹ Nationally, Hawaii sits with the silent, CC&R-governed states, apart from drought-exposed jurisdictions such as California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, and Florida that have enacted xeriscape or drought-landscaping protections.¹³ What follows sets out the statutory framework, what the framework requires of associations, and the recent legislative and judicial record.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. Statutory limits on HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping

The Hawaii Revised Statutes contain no provision restricting association authority over drought-tolerant or xeriscape landscaping, native or low-water plantings, artificial turf, or water-efficient irrigation. The Hawaii Condominium Property Act, HRS Chapter 514B, is the chapter where such a limit on condominium associations would appear — it addresses declarations, use restrictions, alterations, association powers, and fines, but says nothing about water-efficient landscaping.^1,3 The Hawaii Planned Community Associations Act, HRS Chapter 421J, likewise contains no landscaping or water-use provision.² Hawaii's silence looks deliberate rather than accidental once you see HRS §196-7, which voids any covenant or association rule preventing installation of a solar energy device on a single-family dwelling or townhouse. The Legislature knows how to override private CC&Rs for a conservation purpose — it has done so for solar, but not for landscaping or water.¹⁴ Other states have taken the step Hawaii hasn't. California Civil Code §4735(a) makes a governing-document or landscaping-guideline provision "void and unenforceable" if it prohibits "the use of low water-using plants as a group or as a replacement of existing turf" or "the use of artificial turf or any other synthetic surface that resembles grass," added by AB 349 and approved September 4, 2015.¹³ Texas Property Code §202.007 bars a property owners' association from enforcing a dedicatory-instrument provision that "prohibits or restricts a property owner from ... using drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf," and provides that "A provision that violates Subsection (a) is void," in effect since 2013 via SB 198; Texas added HB 517 in 2025, Property Code §202.008, barring fines for brown or discolored turf during a municipal watering restriction and for 60 days after it lifts.¹⁵ Colorado's SB23-178, signed May 17, 2023 and effective August 9, 2023, amending C.R.S. §38-33.3-106.5, bars an association from prohibiting "the use of xeriscape, nonvegetative turf grass, or drought-tolerant or nonvegetative landscapes," caps required hardscape at 20 percent, and requires water-wise design options.¹⁶ Florida Statutes §373.185 addresses Florida-friendly landscaping. Hawaii has adopted no equivalent to any of these. The finding holds: no Hawaii water-conservation landscaping statute exists.

2B. Related water law, drought response, rainwater and graywater

Hawaii treats fresh water as a public-trust resource under the State Water Code, HRS Chapter 174C, administered by the Commission on Water Resource Management within the Department of Land and Natural Resources.⁹ That framework, reinforced by the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in In re Water Use Permit Applications (Waiāhole I), 94 Hawai'i 97, 9 P.3d 409 (2000) — which held that "the public trust doctrine applies to all water resources without exception or distinction" — governs water allocation and withdrawal. Treat it as background context; it doesn't reach an association's authority over a homeowner's landscaping.¹¹ Drought response in Hawaii runs through the Hawai'i Drought Monitor and county water-shortage declarations, and through governor and mayor emergency proclamations issued under HRS Chapter 127A; none of these mechanisms reaches private landscaping enforcement between an association and an owner.^10,8 On rainwater and graywater, the search finds no state statute protecting either practice against HOA rules. Rooftop rainwater catchment is common, especially on Hawaii Island, and individual home systems aren't regulated by the Department of Health; the Hawaii County Department of Water Supply states it "does not recognize nor regulate Rainwater Catchment."^4,17 Graywater reuse is regulated as a system: the Department of Health issued reuse guidelines in 2009, and systems follow the Uniform Plumbing Code with county or Department oversight.⁶ These are systems regulations — they don't limit an association's authority over the tanks, collection structures, or graywater equipment on an owner's lot.

2C. Where water-conservation rules actually live in Hawaii

For a Hawaii community, any water-related landscaping rule lives first in the recorded declaration and the association's architectural-control provisions. For condominiums, the Condominium Property Act supplies the general framework: the declaration must state the permitted and prohibited uses of each unit, under HRS §514B-32, and the association's powers include adopting rules and levying reasonable fines for violations, under HRS §514B-104.^3,18 Planned communities have no comprehensive Hawaii statute; their framework is the recorded documents plus HRS Chapter 421J and the corporate formalities of the Nonprofit Corporations Act, HRS Chapter 414D.^2,12 The practical source of any owner-facing water-use rule is the local water utility, which sets outdoor-watering restrictions during dry periods, conservation measures, and rebate programs independently of the HOA framework.⁷ A manager searching for "Hawaii HOA water conservation law" will find the operative rulebook in the declaration and the local water utility's rules — not in any HOA-specific water statute.

Section 3: What the framework requires of HOAs

A. Landscaping approval and architectural review

Water-related landscaping approvals in Hawaii are contractual, set by the recorded declaration and architectural guidelines. For condominiums, the declaration must specify permitted and prohibited uses under HRS §514B-32 — a framework the declaration itself may vary.³ For planned communities, architectural control over landscaping is purely contractual, arising from the recorded covenants rather than any state landscaping statute.²

B. Drought response and watering restrictions

Outdoor-watering restrictions during dry periods are local utility rules, adopted by water departments such as the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Maui Department of Water Supply — not by the association.^7,8 No statutory water-conservation provision requires or forbids association drought enforcement; an association's authority over dormant or unwatered lawns is purely contractual, from the declaration.¹

C. Rule adoption and disclosure

For condominiums, the association may adopt and amend rules and must follow the declaration and bylaws, under HRS §514B-104.¹⁸ For planned communities, rule adoption and document access come from HRS Chapter 421J and the governing documents, with corporate formalities supplied by the Nonprofit Corporations Act, HRS Chapter 414D.^2,12

D. Enforcement limits and conflicts

For condominiums, fines must be reasonable and imposed only under a fining procedure that gives notice and an opportunity to be heard, under HRS §514B-104.¹⁸ A genuine conflict can arise where a CC&R requires a green, irrigated lawn while a local water utility imposes a watering restriction during a shortage. That tension plays out as a contract-versus-local-rule question, resolved under general law and the utility's authority, not under any water-conservation statute, because Hawaii has none.⁷

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill in the 2025 or 2026 regular sessions would create or affect HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping, drought enforcement, rainwater harvesting, or graywater as against association rules. The one water-related enactment within the past 24 months is a county-directed measure that doesn't reach HOA authority.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published appellate ruling from the past 36 months bears on HOA landscaping authority, architectural enforcement, or water-related use restrictions. The leading Hawaii authority on association architectural and landscaping enforcement remains contractual in character, treating recorded covenants as binding on lot owners, and it predates this window. Association disputes begin in the Hawaii Circuit Courts, with appeals to the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and discretionary review by the Supreme Court of Hawaii.¹⁹

C. Active legislative debates

No active Hawaii legislative debate concerns an HOA water-conservation or xeriscape-protection statute.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

On the water-conservation-specific question, states cluster into three groups. The first has statutes limiting HOA authority over water-efficient landscaping, concentrated in drought-exposed jurisdictions including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and Utah.¹³ The second has partial or emerging provisions, where native-plant or low-impact-landscaping bills have been introduced or narrowly drawn. The third is silent, CC&R-governed states, which include water-conscious island and Western jurisdictions and Hawaii, where association authority over landscaping is set by the declaration rather than statute.¹ For a firm operating across state lines, the practical point is direct: don't assume California's Civil Code §4735 or Nevada's xeriscape rules apply in Hawaii, because none does. Hawaii shows no legislative momentum toward such a statute — no qualifying bill appeared in the 2025 or 2026 sessions.

HOA Weekly's Hawaii water-conservation coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the courts act. For Hawaii communities, the practically controlling water rules are the recorded declaration and the local water utility. Federal frameworks apply to Hawaii associations regardless of state law — the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act among them.

Footnotes

1. HRS Chapter 514B, Condominium Property Act (chapter index; no water-efficient-landscaping provision) ↩
2. HRS Chapter 421J, Planned Community Associations (section list; no landscaping or water-use provision) ↩
3. HRS §514B-32, Contents of declaration (permitted and prohibited uses of each unit) ↩
4. Hawaii Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch: individual home rainwater catchment systems are not regulated by DOH ↩
5. HB1728 (2026), Relating to Rainwater Catchment Systems, enacted as Act 209, SLH 2026 (directs counties; requires counties to allow installation and operation of rainwater catchment systems on all properties) ↩
6. US EPA summary of Hawaii graywater reuse: Hawaii DOH 2009 guidelines and Uniform Plumbing Code Chapter 16 ↩
7. Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Rules and Regulations Chapter III (irrigation restrictions during water-shortage conditions); conservation program is a utility rule ↩
8. Maui County Department of Water Supply, water-shortage declaration (stage restrictions on irrigation and nonessential use) ↩
9. HRS Chapter 174C, State Water Code (public-trust framework; Commission on Water Resource Management) ↩
10. Hawai'i Drought Monitor, Department of Land and Natural Resources ↩
11. In re Water Use Permit Applications (Waiāhole I), 94 Hawai'i 97, 9 P.3d 409 (2000), cited in the HRS Chapter 174C annotations ↩
12. HOA Weekly, Hawaii HOA Compliance overview (HRS Chapter 414D, Nonprofit Corporations Act, applies to associations organized as nonprofits) ↩
13. California Civil Code §4735(a) (AB 349, 2015): governing-document provisions prohibiting low water-using plants or artificial turf as turf replacement are void and unenforceable ↩
14. HRS §196-7, Placement of solar energy devices (association restrictions void and unenforceable) ↩
15. Texas Property Code §202.007 (SB 198, 2013): associations may not prohibit drought-resistant landscaping or water-conserving natural turf; provisions that violate it are void; §202.008 (HB 517, 2025) bars fines for brown turf during watering restrictions ↩
16. Colorado SB23-178 (signed May 17, 2023, effective Aug. 9, 2023; C.R.S. §38-33.3-106.5): associations must allow xeriscape and nonvegetative turf, hardscape capped at 20% ↩
17. Hawaii County Department of Water Supply: "does not recognize nor regulate Rainwater Catchment" ↩
18. HRS §514B-104, Association; powers (rule adoption; reasonable fines with notice and an opportunity to be heard) ↩
19. Hawaii State Judiciary, Intermediate Court of Appeals (court structure) ↩