Hawaii First Water

Deep dive into the (Kona) aquifer dispute

February:

By Cameron Miculka West Hawaii Today cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com

HONOKOHAU — Centuries ago, those who lived here knew how special this place was.

It’s here, at what is now Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, that the water flows beneath the ground and out to the bay, mixing with the saltwater to create an environment perfect for the ‘ama‘ama, or mullet, whose predators can’t tolerate the lower salinity.

The ancient Hawaiians knew this, and they took advantage of the fish’s movements by constructing a massive wall to create the Kaloko Fishpond.

By using channels and gates in the wall that controlled the fish’s entrances and exits, they were able to create a sustainable source of food for themselves.

Today, the mullet, awa and papio still swim back and forth through the channels built into the ancient wall, currently being reconstructed by park masons.

Nearby, seemingly lifeless anchialine pools teem with opae ula, the tiny red shrimp that make their homes in the brackish pools.

But park rangers here fear that increased use of the island’s limited freshwater resources at current and proposed wells, combined with decreased rainfall and rising sea levels, could upset the delicate ecosystem that relies on the balance of fresh and salt water.

As a result, they’re asking the state Commission on Water Resource Management to step in and designate the Keauhou Aquifer, which covers a vast region from Makalawena Beach to north of Kealakekua Bay, a water management area.

Designation would give the Park Service a chance to weigh in on the future of water withdrawals in the area.

That would include for any applications by developers to build new wells mauka of the park’s boundary. By having a chance to challenge permits, park staff could officially voice their concerns about potential impacts those wells could have on the park’s ecosystems.

Not everyone is on board with the proposal though.

Opponents to designating the aquifer say the National Park Service hasn’t shown any evidence that there’s a problem. Commission staff have already filed a report recommending against the designation, instead offering several alternative recommendations.

A hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday (14 Feb) at the West Hawaii Civic Center.

See the rest of the article here

Upcoming AWWA and Hawaii Water Environment Association Conference This Week

February: The American Water Works Association Hawai‘i Section and the Hawai‘i Water Environment Association are proud to announce the fourth annual joint conference now known as the Pacific Water Conference at the Hawai‘i Convention Center from February 14 – 16, 2017.  Our joint conference committee is hard at work to bring you an exciting, fun, and educational conference.

The Pre-Conference Workshop kicks things off on Tuesday, February 14. The Conference officially opens on Wednesday, February 15 and lasts through Thursday, February 16.  Join us at the Convention Center Kamehameha Exhibit Hall I to cheer on this year’s operator competitions featuring HWEA’s Operations Challenge and AWWA’s Pipe Tapping and Top Ops events.  Remember to check out the exhibitors showcasing the newest and latest products in the industry.  With five technical session tracks to choose from, there’s sure to be one that piques your interest.   The conference golf tournament will be held on Friday, February 17 at the Ala Wai Golf Course, and the community service event will take place on Saturday, February 18.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the Conference!

Aloha,

Puna Kaneakua | Susan Mukai | Emily Dong pacificwatercon@gmail.com 2017 Conference Chairs

Link to site

 

Oahu’s Ala Wai Watershed Student Design Challenge

December: (Editor Kobayashi Note:  In case you missed it, the UH announced this competition for students at the Conservation Congress to deal with the continuing problems of the strategic Ala Wai Canal In Honolulu.  Here is the timetable for 2017, use the link to the challenge website and good luck!!)

The Ala Wai Watershed Student Design Challenge, was announced by the University of Hawai‘i at the U.S.-hosted 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress. The Challenge looks to unlock student innovation and creativity to craft solutions that address critical urban watershed and island issues, specifically, restoring watershed ecologies and exploring culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

The University of Hawai’i seek ideas from the brightest minds of our youth and students to help advance the collective goals and action agenda of the Ala Wai Watershed Partnership (AWWP) (e.g., stream and ecosystem restoration, green stormwater infrastructure, water capture and reuse, sediment control, flood mitigation, contemporary urban ahupua’a, Ala Wai as a destination, education and engagement with community/youth, coalition of teams with local participation, etc.)

Here is a link to the challenge website…

TIMELINE
Sept 5th, 2016 – Design competition announced @ IUCN-WCC
Sept – Dec 2016 – Outreach to students
Jan 9th, 2017 – Design Challenge opens
Jan 9th-31st, 2017 – Registration period
March 17th, 2017  – Design entries close
May 2017 – Exhibition of design entries at various locations
Week of June 25th, 2017 – Winners announced at World Youth Congress 2017

UH researchers link quality of coastal groundwater with reef

December;

(Honolulu, HI) Land-use practices on tropical oceanic islands can have large impacts on reef ecosystems, even in the absence of rivers and streams. Land-based pollutants, such as fertilizers and chemicals in wastewater, infiltrate into the groundwaters beneath land and eventually exit into nearshore ecosystems as submarine groundwater discharge (SGD)—seeping into the coastal zone beneath the ocean’s surface. In a study published recently in PLOS ONE, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) scientists used a combination of field experiments and chemical analysis of water and algae to show that the quality of coastal groundwater plays a major role in determining the health of nearshore ecosystems in Hawai‘i.

Various sources of pollution, such as agriculture or sewage treatment facilities, have identifiable chemical signatures, particularly the isotopes of nitrogen in the nutrients they contain. This study assessed groundwater quality, coastal water quality, and reef health across six different bays on Maui with various potential sources of pollution. By comparing the nitrogen isotope signature of algae tissues and potential pollution, the research group traced nutrients in the algae back to their land-based sources.

This study is the first to show the extent of the impact of wastewater injection wells at Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility, Maui’s highest-volume sewage treatment plant, on Kahului Bay. In addition to relatively high nutrient levels in marine surface waters in Kahului Bay, shallow areas were almost entirely dominated by a thick fleshy mat of colonial zoanthids, a phenomenon not reported anywhere else in the state. A concurrent companion study to this work, led by James Bishop at the UHM Department of Geology and Geophysics, found that water collected from beach sands, which represents coastal groundwater, next to the Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility contained up to 75 percent treated wastewater—highlighting the impact of wastewater in this area.

For the rest of this article including citations see

 

The NSF EPSCoR ‘Ike Wai project brings science, education and community together to ensure Hawai’i’s freshwater future

(November Editor Note:  This is the first note from the UH ‘Ike Wai project funded by the National Science Foundation in May 2016.  This article begins to lay out what UH plans to fund with the $20 million grant.  We look forward to  better understanding of our islands’ aquifers to begin the process of conserving our vital freshwater resources.)

This is the first in a series of articles about the ‘Ike Wai project by Burt Lum.   Each monthly article will explore a different aspect of the project and an ongoing story of ‘Ike Wai.   Burt is getting the word out about ‘Ike Wai on social media.  Follow us on facebook and instagram @hawaiiepscor.  This is a link to the ‘Ike Wai website.

 

By Burt Lum

Growing up in Hawai‘i, I was amazed to learn that much of our freshwater comes from aquifers deep underground. Our volcanic geology makes for an intricate and complex catchment system. The journey starts as the trade winds blow and clouds are forced up into the cooler atmosphere by high mountain ranges where their moisture begins to condense. This water falls on the islands in the form of rain and misty clouds before slowly percolating through the island’s subsurface geology, finally helping to recharge the island’s freshwater aquifers. This freshwater becomes Hawai‘i’s primary source of drinking water.

In the months, and years, to come, I will have the distinct honor of helping tell this age old story of water through the lens of some 21st century science and technology. Back in May 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the University of Hawai‘i a 5-year, $20M grant to study the freshwater aquifer in recognition of this critical natural resource.

The grant is part of the NSF EPSCoR program or Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research whose mission is to to advance excellence in science and engineering research and education. One of its primary goals is “to advance science and engineering capabilities in EPSCoR jurisdictions for discovery, innovation and overall knowledge-based prosperity.”

‘Ike Wai, the name embraced by the Hawai‘i EPSCoR team, is derived from the Hawaiian word for knowledge (‘ike) and freshwater (wai) or the Knowledge of Water.

The water cycle of the islands seems straightforward, but once the water moves from the surface to the subsurface its path to the aquifer can be complex. Subsurface geologic structures are a complex network of porous volcanic rock, impervious caprock and vertical dikes that restrict the flow of water. The existence of these structures are inferred by the variability of water elevation in wells however not much is known about the spatial boundaries of these structures and how they affect the flow of groundwater. Even less is known about how water may move from one aquifer to another in response to high rainfall events or increased pumping of wells for our local water supply. For example the Pearl Harbor Aquifer services 60% of the population of Oahu and is threatened by the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Adjacent to the Pearl Harbor Aquifer is the Honolulu Aquifer. Little is known how these two aquifers affect each other and whether water flows from one aquifer to another.

Through the ‘Ike Wai project, scientists will apply the field sensor data and the latest geophysical tools to help refine existing models of these aquifers, but that is just the start.

The two study areas include the Pearl Harbor Aquifer on O‘ahu and the Hualalai Aquifer on Hawai‘i Island. The project consists of a team of scientists, economists, educators as well as stakeholders in the community that will come together as a multidisciplinary collaboration between members from the University of Hawai‘i School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, Hawai‘i Institute for Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, the UH Economic Research Organization (UHERO), Dept. of Information and Computer Science and the Water Resources Research Center.

According to Gwen Jacobs, Principal Investigator for the project, “The study of the freshwater aquifer is critically important for Hawai‘i. With this project we will take a collaborative approach for our four broad goals, science & research, community engagement, decision support and education & workforce development.”

One of the goals is to map geologic structures and produce 3D models of the groundwater distribution of the aquifer.  The plan involves the deployment of a network of sensors that will provide real time monitoring of water conditions in designated wells. Sensors will monitor temperature, salinity, organics, turbidity and flow-rate. These data will form the basis for a “big picture view” of aquifer analysis. With an understanding of the physical characteristics of adjoining aquifers and the modeling of water flow between and through the aquifer, decision makers will be equipped with better tools to manage the long term sustainability of Hawai‘i’s freshwater resources.

The resulting decision support platform will house the data and analysis from this project as well as the visualization tools to aid community stakeholders in a collaborative environment. Key to this capability are the advanced technologies including the University of Hawai‘i’s high performance computing resources, the Laboratory for Advanced Visualizations and Applications (LAVA) and the CyberCANOE – the Cyber-Infrastructure Enabled Collaborative Analysis Navigation and Observation Environment.

A key to the success of the ‘Ike Wai project is building active collaborations with other agencies and organizations that study Hawai‘i’s freshwater. Work to understand Hawai‘i’s freshwater has been going on for decades and the aim with ‘Ike Wai is to engage stakeholders to identify the gaps and provide new techniques and models to help fill those gaps. This will require a close working relationship at the Federal level with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). At the State and County level the team is working with the Hawai‘i Department of Health, Commission on Water Resource Management (Dept of Land and Natural Resources), Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Hawai‘i County Department of Water Supply.

While this research is funded for 5 years, the long lasting impact of ‘Ike Wai will come through education and workforce development. As a result of this 5-year project both UH Mānoa and UH Hilo will develop new programs and add new faculty with the goal of creating the next generation of water-workforce including geologists, hydrologists, computer specialists and modelers, and natural resource economists and managers. UH Mānoa has plans to create three tenure-track faculty positions: a hydro-geophysicist, within the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), a hydro-engineer, with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a water economist, within the Social Sciences Research Institute.

At UH Hilo, the EPSCoR project will help to establish a new Data Science program with four new tenure-track faculty positions in Computer Science, Mathematics, Social Science and Natural Science. This will lead to new degree programs in Data Science and Data Analytics.

Understanding Hawai‘i’s freshwater resource will benefit all the people in the State but the investment in this project will go a long way towards creating a pathway for science and research that can be applied beyond Hawai‘i to other Pacific Island nations. It also aims to develop a continuous flow of our next generation professionals, the knowledge base and tools for future decision making.

“I’m excited that we can build a software platform and a data repository that is not only in use by researchers at UH but also becomes a knowledge resource for our agency partners,” said Jacobs. “When we look back on this project I’d like to say we’ve seeded a new research area that is the catalyst to fund more research opportunities in this area to further benefit Hawai‘i and the Pacific.”

There are many facets to this complex story from big data visualizations, scientific and community collaborations to understanding the native Hawaiian cultural knowledge of freshwater. You will find a regular monthly posting of articles here on the Hawaii EPSCoR website and you can also follow this journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Please join me as we explore ‘Ike Wai the Knowledge of Water.

Study finds injection wells, agriculture harming Maui bays

November 2016;

HONOLULU (AP) – A team of University of Hawaii scientists has completed a study of nearshore ecosystems across Maui that shows the harmful impacts of discharged treated wastewater.

The findings were published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE earlier this month.

The scientists analyzed water and algae at six locations around Maui, including Kahului Bay, which is adjacent to Maui’s highest-volume sewage treatment plant. A study of the bay found high nutrient levels in marine surface waters near the Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility and a “thick, fleshy mat” of colonial zoanthids, a coral-like organism.

For the rest of the article see this…

Hirono, State & Local Leaders Emphasize How Public & Private Partnerships Improve Hawaii’s Water Security

November: Press release from Senator Hirono’s Office.  18 October 2016.

Senator Mazie K. Hirono today convened state and local leaders to examine how federal partnerships protect and sustain Hawaii’s freshwater resources. Senator Hirono, Governor David Ige, state elected officials, and watershed resource experts outlined what Hawaii groups are currently doing to improve water security, and how the federal government can support these efforts.

“Hawaii’s native forested watersheds feed our state’s water supply, and it is vital that we protect these precious resources,” said Senator Hirono. “The federal government will continue to play a critical role in supporting innovative strategies that protect our forested watersheds. We must continue to work with all stakeholders to improve conservation and ensure that our water resources are protected for generations to come.”

“During the World Conservation Congress in Honolulu last month, I made an ambitious commitment to the global community to protect 30 percent of Hawaii’s priority watershed forests by 2030,” said Governor Ige. “Only 15 percent of priority watershed forests are protected. We can only reach this goal and exceed it through public-private partnerships between landowners and managers who recognize this is the best way to protect our forested watersheds and our fresh water source.”

Senator Hirono voted to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Senator Hirono also worked to get Hawaii’s collaborative landscape proposal, “Island Forests at Risk,” in the President’s budget for FY 2016 and 2017. This proposal, which includes 13 public and private partners, provides funding to purchase and protect endangered species’ habitats, culturally significant areas, and ecologically important lands in the state.

Senator Hirono heard from a number of witnesses who shared federal, local, and cultural perspectives on how to improve Hawaii’s water security, including:

 

State Senator Mike Gabbard

Chair, Hawaii State Senate Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture

State Representative Ryan Yamane

Chair, Hawaii State House of Representatives Committee on Water and Land

Mr. Steve Anthony

Director, U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Islands Water Science Center

Mr. Randy Moore

Regional Forester, U.S. Department of Agriculture Pacific Southwest Region Forest Service

Mr. David Smith

Administrator, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife

Dr. Sam Gon

Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii

Mr. Matthew Gonser

Extension Faculty, University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program

Mr. Trae Menard

Chair, Hawaii Association of Watershed Partnerships

‘Ike Wai: Securing Hawai’i’s Water Future, supported by NSF EPSCoR

October (Editor Comment:  Although NSF granted the UH $20 Million for water research earlier this year, see link to see how the UH is beginning to formulate its water research plan and its video.  See the link here)

Hawai‘i depends exclusively on local water. The ‘Ike Wai project will provide data and models that address the grand challenge of water sustainability. A diverse workforce of data scientists and water researchers will work in concert with the community, government and business to inform decision makers with high-quality data and predictive capacity.  The project incorporates indigenous and local communities, and its robust, inclusive and diverse human capital pipeline of undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty will address water challenges at the academic and policy level.

IUCN Signals New Direction for Conservation

(September)

By Codi Kozacek
Circle of Blue

HONOLULU — More than 10,000 environmental delegates, representatives, and participants from around the world descended on Hawaii last Thursday to kick off the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The quadrennial event, often called the Olympics of environmental conservation, has been both a celebration of recent successes and a grim recognition that much more is needed to prevent the world’s remaining natural splendor from fading into history.

It is the first time the United States has hosted the Congress in the IUCN’s 68-year history. Past gatherings fostered landmark international agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. This year, the Congress comes on the heels of two of the most ambitious environmental roadmaps laid out in more than a decade: the Paris climate accord to cut carbon emissions and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Keynote speakers at the opening ceremony on Thursday, including U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Palau President Tommy Remengesau, called on attendees to turn those global guideposts into real action on the ground.

The environmental, economic, and social movements have to come together.” — Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Former Director General, IUCN…

 

…In the face of the urgency and severity of the global environmental crisis, leaders at the Congress acknowledged that success in the 21st century will require a major mindset change in the conservation sector. Traditionally, conservation has relied on a relatively narrow community of environmental advocates and scientists, taking a similarly insular approach to creating protected areas fenced off from the general public.

That methodology must evolve if the conservation movement hopes to achieve its goals. Speakers advocated for a much more inclusive community that embraces businesses and financial institutions, youth, and indigenous communities. Private finance, they said, is an absolute requirement for scaling up conservation projects to a level that can shield species from extinction, preserve ecosystem services like clean water, and make communities resilient to climate change. In her opening ceremony address, Secretary Jewell highlighted the need for a more strategic effort to protect landscapes as a whole, rather than preserving disconnected areas through “random acts of kindness”. And leaders emphasized that, on its own, raising awareness and setting aside protected areas for nature is no longer enough. Instead, the conservation ethic must infuse financial and political systems.

“Maybe environmentalism shouldn’t have a future on its own,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, former director general of the IUCN. “The environmental, economic, and social movements have to come together.”

For the rest of the excellent article see…

The Governor’s World Conservation Congress Legacy Commitment: “30 by 30 Watershed Forests Target”

The Hawaiian koa-‘ōhi‘a rainforests capture and provide the islands’ supply of fresh clean water, lessen impacts from climate change, dramatically reduce flooding and erosion into our coral reefs, provide an ecosystem for unique plants and wildlife, and have profound cultural significance. Approximately 20% of land area in Hawaiʻi is identified as priority watershed. In 2011, only 10% of these priority watersheds were protected.

The rest of the Governor’s statement is here…