(Editor Comment: We commend high school senior Megan Okuma for her insightful article on water scarcity in the islands.) By: Megan Okuma, Leilehua High School, Class of 2020. As inhabitants of an island, most of Hawaii cannot fathom running out of water. However, although we are surrounded by such a precious resource, only 0.4% of the world’s water is drinkable. In Hawaii, most of our water … Read More...
Rainfall & Drought
Climate change has brought about a change in rainfall patterns which is generally decreasing rain in formerly dry areas and increasing rainfall in the wet areas. We need to find ways to take advantage of these new patterns by capturing more of the rainfall and diverting it to the dryer areas.Rainfall Issues
The Aquifers
Much of Hawaii's pristine fresh water comes from its volcanic stone aquifers. The increasing demands for water from Hawaii's increased population and tourist industry, combined with rising ocean levels have shrunk the supply of fresh water in the aquifers, particularly on Oahu.Groundwater Issues
Rivers & Streams
The flow of fresh water streams and rivers in Hawaii have also significantly declined. At the same time, shrinking government funding has curtailed stream level tests and sampling so the decline is uncharted.Rivers & Streams Issues
Water Conservation
Water conservation is the key to preserving Hawaii's dwindling freshwater supply. Many mainland cities have successfully used new methods of conservation as part of their future water plans. Water rates need to be utilized which encourage users that are conserving water at the same time as punishing water wasters.Conservation Issues
News & Research
Our (Water) Project in Hawaii
December 2019 (LK: this is a fascinating article on water desal using solar power to begin to reforest an area on the Big Island) by Author Yishan Wong in Medium: In considering large-scale strategies to fix climate change, it turns out that the lowest-risk, lowest-cost, and most politically feasible strategy is the massive global reforestation of 3 billion acres. To concretely prove out key … Read More...
Mayor: Maui Will Not Withdraw Supreme Court Appeal in Lahaina Injection Well Case
(Editor Comment: Environmentalists would like to settle this case out of court fearing that a more conservative Supreme Court will weaken the Federal Clean Water Act.) October 2019: Maui Now: Wendy Osher: Maui Mayor Michael Victorino says the County of Maui will not withdraw its appeal of the Lahaina injection well case from consideration by the US Supreme Court. He is now seeking … Read More...
State of Hawaii Freshwater Dashboard
October 2019 (Editor Comment: According the State of Hawaii Dashboard, as of April 2019, the state estimated that we saved about 11 million gallons of water per day (gwd) of our target of 100 million gwd which we are aiming to hit by 2030. We have used about 4 years of our 14 year timeline which is about 29% of our time period. Ideally we would be hitting about 30 million gwd rather than … Read More...
Maui County committee agrees to settle injection well case
September 2019; WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — County officials have recommended settling with environmental groups that sued over the use of injection wells. Members of the Maui County Committee on Governance, Ethics, and Transparency voted 5-3 to recommend that the full council settle and remove the case ahead of U.S. Supreme Court consideration in November. See the rest of the article here... … Read More...