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r a glimpse of the latest hopeful sign in the ongoing legal battles over water rights in Hawai'i, look no further than the Nā Wai 'Ehā streams in Central Maui. At these four wonderlands of ever-present rainbows, stunning verdant valleys and blazing sunsets, anxious anticipation from more than a decade of hearings and legal maneuvering has given way to a collective sigh of relief since the most recent legal victory for a broad-based alliance of farmers, environmentalists and others in the Native Hawaiian community. The Aug. 15, 2012 Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling against the state Commission on Water Resource Management has provided some desperately needed clarity in the bruising power struggle over water rights in the central valley of Maui, where the last of the state's once-powerful sugar plantations is clashing with farmers, who want to grow such traditional root crops as taro, and others interested in gathering native stream resources as well as exercising spiritual practices. In its decision in the Nā Wai 'Ehā case, the high-court upheld state law that requires the water commission to consider the effects of its decision on traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices at streams. The high court also upheld state law that requires the commission to consider steps to protect these practices. Having display issues? View this site in a new tab. As Native Hawaiian farmers and others pivot towards their next steps, all eyes are starting to focus on just how much water will be put back into the Waihe'e River as well as the Waiehu, 'Iao and Waikapu streams, which together are known as Nā Wai 'Ehā or "The four great waters." But the Nā Wai 'Ehā case is just one of many struggles between plantations and farmers that for years have been undermining the rights that the Hawai'i Supreme Court has found to be fundamental under the State Constitution. Since the 1990s, communities in East Maui have been bringing attention to the raging controversy over the constitutional right in Hawai'i to protect traditional as well as customary Native Hawaiian practices at streams. It has also been a familiar showdown in Windward O'ahu, where the state's high-court handed a group lined up behind taro farmers a significant legal victory more than a decade ago.