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Our Process

The One Water Panel is currently developing the One Water Honolulu Plan.

A Resilience Roadmap

By the end of 2026, the One Water Honolulu Plan will support implementation of the City and County of Honolulu’s Climate Ready O’ahu strategy, to prepare and safeguard people, ʻāina, and infrastructure, by providing a holistic water management plan and a 30-year list of multi-benefit projects to build resilience in our island’s infrastructure and natural systems.

The One Water Plan is a collaborative roadmap that focuses on how to implement the resilience strategy, recognizing that most climate impacts involve water—too much or too little of it.

Dive into O’ahu’s Water story
Circular diagram illustrating the One Water Honolulu framework. At the center is One Water Honolulu, surrounded by five overlapping planning areas: Water (Water Master Plan, Watershed Management Plans, Source Water Protection Plan), Wastewater (Wastewater Facility Plans and Water Recycling Program), Storm Water (Storm Water Master Plan and Green Infrastructure Implementation Plan), Hazard Planning (Local Hazard Mitigation Plans and Development Plans and Sustainable Communities Plans), and Climate Change (Climate Ready Oʻahu, Oʻahu Resilience Strategy, and Climate Action Plan). An outer ring labeled "One Water Solutions" connects all planning areas.

Several current planning efforts can be leveraged to support One Water Solutions across O’ahu.

Collaboration framework showing a community-centered approach to One Water planning. Stakeholder groups surrounding the central community include core collaborators (city and county departments, external agencies, labor and trade organizations, academia, and environmental organizations), businesses (tourism, farmers and agriculture, and business organizations), communities (frontline communities, cultural and place-based organizations, neighborhood boards and community organizations, and individuals), and the development community (large landowners, consultants, and developers).

There is a wide range of potential stakeholders to consider when building resilience across our infrastructure and for our communities.

Guided by a Collaboration Framework

A key component of One Water Honolulu is the Collaboration Framework, which provides a structured approach for action-oriented solutions and joint decision-making.

It recognizes that climate change impacts can only be mitigated by collaboratively working together within City and state agencies, large landowners, developers, organizations, consultants, and the community.

Collaboration is so essential to achieving climate resilience that it was institutionalized in City Ordinance 20-47, which created the One Water Panel of eight City Departments that will extend progress across future administrations and ensure continuity in purpose and long-term results.

Developing One Water Projects

Through the Collaboration Framework, the One Water Panel and its partners will coordinate infrastructure development, including identifying priority projects and developing project scopes and budgets.

The panel will also maintain a multi-year infrastructure investment strategy for the identified projects through the City and County’s annual Capital Improvement Program budget, implement associated policies and regulations, and pursue partnerships between agencies, developers, and the community.

One Water Honolulu Planning Timeline