CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Troop 1 Scouts were among the youths taking part in the Kuleana Project. Will Choy, left, Brad Pang, Alex Akaka and Nick Choy watched Andrew Hirai paint a sign on a Manoa sidewalk warning against throwing waste down storm drains.
Project promotes
water kuleanaResidents in Manoa will be
asked about their usage habits
Students from 12 schools will ask Manoa Valley residents this fall to accept their kuleana (responsibility) for the water quality of their neighborhood.
Organizers of the Kuleana Project hope to increase awareness of behavior that pollutes water -- and persuade people to change.
Students will ask as many as 1,000 Manoa Valley households to take a simple but pointed survey about their knowledge and habits regarding water.
They will be asked how much they use fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals that can affect water quality in streams -- and ultimately the Ala Wai Canal and Waikiki Beach.
How do they dispose of pet waste? Do they compost yard waste? How do they wash their cars and change the oil? What water conservation measures do they use?
If people learn that they are contributing pollution to the watershed, students will suggest ways they can change their habits.
The survey will be conducted through January, said Helen Nakano, a founder of Malama O Manoa and the Kuleana Project coordinator.
Using the traditional Hawaiian ahupuaa, the project emphasizes how what takes place in upper areas impacts the regions below.
Kuleana Project kicked off last month when about 100 volunteers stenciled reminders on 1,000 Manoa storm drains not to put waste down the drains.
Another 100 kids, many of them members of Boy and Girl Scout troops or school clubs, hung about 5,000 Honolulu Board of Water Supply information packets about water conservation on doorknobs.
Malama O Manoa is the Kuleana Project's organizational co-sponsor and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply is supplying a $76,850 grant.
Participating schools are Hokulani, Iolani, Manoa, both Maryknoll Elementary and High, Mid-Pacific, Noelani, Punahou, Roosevelt, St. Francis, Stevenson and the Educational Lab at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
Manoa residents willing to be interviewed for Kuleana Project can register on the Malama Web site at www.malamaomanoa.org, e-mail nakano@ aloha.net or call 988-5671.
Young people are the centerpiece of the project, Nakano said. Each of the schools is involving different ages of students, ranging from third-graders to high school seniors.
"The older kids will be much more technologically skilled. They may even do PowerPoint presentations," Nakano said. "I don't know what the third-graders will come up with, but my bet is that the third-graders might get the adults to change because they are so cute."
Because they will have done their homework, "the kids are the teachers and the adults are the students," Nakano said. "It's going to be very fascinating."
The project will end with the creation of a Kuleana Project Guide, highlighting the lessons learned, and the successes and failures of the campaign.
After helping fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 1 stencil storm drains on Manoa Road, 15-year-old Nick Choy said, "It gives me a good feeling that we're making it a cleaner place."
Sarah Hammond, 14, a member of the Punahou National Honor Society, said, "This should remind everyone that you shouldn't pollute."
