SEA TALK: Effluent as Eco-Restoration

2/22/2018 #kihei
When KCA was incorporated in 1960, our still current by-laws stated our region covered South Maui. It did then, and now nearing sixty years later, it still does, and that includes Ma’alaea.

So this “Sea Talk” at the Maui Ocean Center (MOC) had our interest for a number of reasons, based on our interest in ocean water quality and the Clean Water Act. Environmental scientist Robin Knox has been the most frequent presenter at our membership meetings for the past decade. Here she was joined by Maui Ocean Center Environmental Director, Aviad Cahana, to explain the history of Ma‘alaea Harbor water quality, sources of pollutants entering the harbor, Clean Water Regulations, and the role of Maui Ocean Center’s effluent in restoring harbor water quality. This talk explains how the Clean Water Act controls point and non-point sources of pollution, provides results of ongoing studies of harbor water quality and stormwater pollutant loads, and highlights opportunities for water quality improvement.

Their explicit focus was the quality of water contained within the harbor, illustrating the numerous sources of contaminants and pollution that flow into the mostly enclosed body of water, and the surprising result of the MOC operation. Not only does it not harm the quality, but actually improves it.

We commend MOC for providing these free education presentations at their facility each month.

We apologize to Aviad Cahana, as due to a tech issue we have no picture of him here