[ OUR OPINION ]
Isle students take
lead in protecting
the environment
THE ISSUE
The Kuleana Project will survey Manoa residents about their water use practices to emphasize conservation and pollution control.WHEN heavy rain on Oahu last week flushed tons of trash and debris through the streams that empty into the Ala Wai Canal, it was a graphic illustration of how pollutants in upland regions affect the ocean and an entire watershed area. It was a lesson hundreds of children from schools in Manoa didn't need since they have been at the forefront of a program to educate adults and to survey their habits in water use.
STAR-BULLETIN
Boy Scouts stencil a Manoa street as part of a community project to mark street drains with messages warning people not to dump waste.
The Kuleana Project, co-sponsored by Malama O Manoa, a community group, and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, has students from 12 private and public schools stenciling warnings about dumping wastes into storm drains and distributing water conservation information to the valley's residents.
A more far-reaching aspect of the project is a survey students and other volunteers will conduct to determine knowledge and habits regarding water usage. Residents who agree to participate will be asked how much fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals they use, how they wash their cars, change the oil and dispose of pet wastes. They also will be questioned about water conservation practices. Then they will be given recommendations to reduce pollution and increase water conservation. After 6 to 8 weeks, survey participants will be questioned again to see if they have changed any habits. A report will be produced to evaluate the project, which may serve as a model for similar projects in other neighborhoods.
The project is a sort of laboratory for water management in which the public can be educated about non-point source pollution, a major problem in streams that eventually contaminates the ocean, as well as wise use of water resources. BWS is also working with residents in a plan to catch rain water for use in irrigating yards and gardens and lessen the use of drinking supplies.
Involving young people -- from third-graders to high school seniors -- in the project will help to create a generation with a heightened awareness of ahupuaa, the traditional Hawaiian view of the islands' geographic systems that encompasses the environmental cycle from the mountains to the sea and emphasizes how care of one benefits the other.
As Malama's founder, Helen Nakano, said, this is a project in which "kids are the teachers and adults are the students."
