by Nancy Glover
The Waimanalo Community Development Corporation together with the Waimanalo Health Center were awarded a $60,000 grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation to establish a Waimanalo Watershed Council for purposes of watershed planning and management, including water pollution prevention and control. The council will foster partnerships among community members, researchers, government agencies and public officials. The grant monies are part of the $130,000 settlement agreement between the State and Meadow Gold dairy for violation of water pollution laws.
The vision statement for the Waimanalo Watershed Council is:
Waimanalo's waters, from the mountains to the reef, are held precious by our residents, who consciously and actively guard it from pollution by their responsible actions. Waimanalo residents are directly involved with government agencies in enhancing water quality, and any decisions as to changes affecting it. The Waimanalo community protects its treasure of beautiful clean water that belongs to us all.
The Waimanalo Watershed Council seeks to accomplish the following objectives:
* Educate the Waimanalo community to understand how their everyday actions affect water quality and how they can participate in pollution control strategies.
* Facilitate volunteer water quality monitoring to identify current and potential sources of water pollution, establish baseline conditions and determine water quality trends.
* Develop a watershed management plan to determine specific restoration projects that are needed for the future health of the watershed and to design water pollution controls appropriate for the Waimanalo community.
* Promote stream stewardship by helping landowners practice good stream management and protection to reduce or eliminate nonpoint source pollution and enhance the physical characteristics and natural biota of streams.
Find out how to get involved by calling Greg Field 259-9558.
What is a Watershed?
The watershed council will embrace the Hawaiian ahupua`a land division concept as the definition of a watershed. The Waimanalo ahupua`a extends from the Koolau mountain summits down through the valley to the outer edge of the reef in Waimanalo Bay. The name ahupua`a is derived from ahu, an altar of stones, upon which was placed an image of the head of a pua`a pig. These altars marked the boundaries between ahupua`a and served as rallying areas for the collection of tribute.