The Ha’iku Stream Quality project started in January 2024 so we now have about two years of data under our belts. The goal of the project was (and still is) to test at least four local streams that are used for recreation, mostly swimming. Some are also used in other ways, such as farming. All of these streams have been diverted in the past and some still are. The primary streams we focus on are:
Na’ili’ilihaele (also known as the Bamboo Forest hike)
Kailua (also known as Dog Pond)
Honopou
Ho’olawa system (Twin Falls)
We test several factors that indicate stream health, where health is both for people and biota. These factors fluctuate a lot and this is somewhat influenced by stream flow, so we also gather flow data and record visual stream conditions at the time we test.
We are proud to present here our summary report for the 2024 to 2025 data set. This report provides a nice overview of the project and the findings to date. The report can be accessed here.
To view our weekly stream snapshots of current conditions, go here.
If you are interested in putting together your own water quality testing program, we have created a short How-To guide. That can be accessed here.
Maui community members and water resource experts came together on October 28 and 29 for a series of meetings across the island to help shape a sustainable, equitable, and community-led future for East Maui’s watershed. Building on community priorities identified in June, participants identified and provided detail for specific projects to support stewardship of the land and waters of the region. The Public Finance Initiative (PFI) helped convene the sessions, sharing insights on funding opportunities and strategies to support residents, community leaders, and officials in co-creating a community-led investment plan for the East Maui watershed.
Keʻanae
Online
Haʻikū
Workshop Details
Each of the three sessions began with updates from the East Maui Water Authority, including a review of priorities identified during the June community conversation series by East Maui Water Authority Director Gina Young.
After the updates:
Community members worked together in small and large groups to brainstorm project ideas.
Participants ranked projects.
PFI partners shared practical ways to match funding opportunities with community values and goals.
Before closing out, participants discussed whether those projects resonated, how they would be implemented, what was missing, who was missing from the discussion and what ongoing participation should look like.
Implementing Community Vision
These community gatherings continue to serve as essential steps in building the foundation for a comprehensive, community-driven operations plan that will guide long-term water system stewardship, watershed protection, and sustainable resource management. The breadth and depth of input about both the “what” and “how” of projects is shaping the key elements of this collective framework.
Priority Project Details:
1. Top Collective Priority: County acquisition of the water system
At all three workshops, participants shared a commitment to community ownership and stewardship of the East Maui water system—locally led, transparent, culturally grounded, and ecologically sustainable.
Specific perspectives on community stewardship over corporate ownership:
Management should reflect traditional values, community participation, and accountability to the land and its people.
Local control rooted in cultural practice and sustainability.
Corporate ownership was broadly opposed.
2. Top Keʻanae Priority: Creating an operations hub (baseyard) for ecosystem stewardship and maintenance
Purpose and Functionof the baseyard:
To serve as a central facility for watershed health, water system maintenance, tool and equipment storage, and collaborative ecosystem stewardship.
To include a “Personnel Loan Program” to support ʻauwai projects affecting multiple properties and nearshore environments.
3. Top Haʻikū Priority and Overall Top Collective Priority: Comprehensive and ongoing monitoring of streams
Participants at all workshops emphasized the critical need for increased, accurate, and continuous monitoring of rainfall and stream flows across East Maui’s watersheds:
Monitoring should prioritize understanding each stream’s unique characteristics from mauka (mountain) to makai (sea) while integrating community participation and scientific rigor.
Monitoring should also consider quality of life factors connected to ecosystem and water resource health.
Community-Based Monitoring and Citizen Science
Participants in Haʻikū proposed an “Adopt-A-Stream” model that supports regular data collection by trained volunteer and compensated citizen scientists, including residents living near streams, local community members, schools, and youth groups. This grassroots approach would foster long-term engagement and stewardship.
Technology Support
Modern tools such as GPS-enabled phone apps and machine learning were recommended to enhance data accuracy by supporting mapping, species identification, and providing watershed health ratings (stream flow, temperature, invasive species, debris, and impacted communities). Integrating data will enable analysis of ecological and cultural impacts and tracking of improvements.
Ongoing Studies and Lived Experience
Participants recommended investing in the following studies, some of which are already ongoing, and emphasized the importance of including students and blending scientific understanding with lived ecological experience:
Research on endemic species, such as dragonflies and ‘ōpe‘ape‘a bats, initiated by and benefiting the community.
Monitoring that is located strategically near water diversions and makai zones to assess water levels, usage, ecological impact, and cultural values.
Stream life studies to compare populations above and below diversions.
Research should inform adaptive management
Customizing water diversion standards based on individual stream hydrology rather than applying broad standards.
Aligning diversion limits with weather patterns and climate change, acknowledging rapid fluctuations such as prolonged dry and wet periods.
Capacity Building, Education, and Workforce Development
Residents in Keʻanae and Haʻikū highlighted education and workforce development as key to protecting the watershed and empowering the next generation with the knowledge to honor and carry on the practices of their kūpuna. Strategies supported include:
4. Water System Improvements (Collective priority / Hybrid meeting top priority)
Participants at all workshops agreed restoration efforts must address a wide range of natural and human-made infrastructure issues. Priorities include:
Cleaning tunnels and ditches of debris; unplugging waterlines, designing selective diversions to allow water flow underneath;
Lining, maintaining, or abandoning reservoirs and ditches; improving open ditch linings with plastic or debris covers; increasing reservoir depths with covers like solar panels to reduce evaporation;
Reducing water losses at intakes; restoring natural stream shapes and caring for ʻauwais;
Addressing low-flow channels, creating aquatic bridges for species migration over diversions; and
Installing hydro-pumped systems for ditch management.
Keʻanae participants noted many reservoirs are in hot, windy areas prone to evaporation and recommended covers and maintaining critical reservoir depths for healthy stream flow, with capture points just above minimum levels. While water recycling was discussed, fixing leaks and repairing infrastructure were seen as more cost-effective.
In order to ensure sustainable and effective long-term management, participants recommended resilience grants and partnerships among local, state, federal, and academic institutions in support of community governance and stewardship,
Building on the momentum of the June and October 2025 community workshops, the East Maui Water Authority is now working with the Public Finance Initiative to translate the collective insights and goals of participants into a draft Action Plan that will guide EMWA’s next steps.
In the meantime, the East Maui Water Authority has continued to build its capacity and prepare for its growing responsibilities. Most recently, EMWA Executive Director Gina Young and ‘Aha Wai O Maui Hikina Board Chair Jonathan Scheuer presented an update to the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
