Law
The Public Trust Doctrine Applied to Groundwater
Quick fact
In 2021, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the public trust doctrine applies to all groundwater, making the state a trustee obligated to protect it for public uses, even when private wells are involved.
Why this is interesting
You own the land above an aquifer—so you own the water below it, right? In some jurisdictions, that assumption is being overturned by a doctrine nearly two thousand years old.