Mountain-to-Sea Resource Management

Blog: Identifying wastewater management tradeoffs: costs, nearshore water quality, and implications for marine coastal ecosystems in Kona, Hawai’i

September 8, 2021

By Christopher A. Wada, Kimberly M. Burnett , Brytne K. Okuhata, Jade M. S. Delevaux, Henrietta Dulai, Aly I. El-Kadi, Veronica Gibson, Celia Smith, Leah L. Bremer An interdisciplinary team from UHERO, the Water Resources Research Center, Dept. of Earth Sciences, and the Dept. of Botany recently published new scientific results in the journal PLOS […]

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Groundwater management for people and ecosystems under a changing climate: Insights from the Puʻuloa aquifer

July 26, 2021

By Leah Bremer, Ahmed Elshall, Christopher Wada, Laura Brewington, Jade Delevaux, Aly El-Kadi, Clifford Voss, and Kimberly Burnett Summary:New research from the University of Hawaiʻi ʻIke Wai project indicates that current legal limits on withdrawals from the Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor) aquifer, the primary water source for Oʻahu, are not sufficient to protect this important resource. […]

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Effects of land cover and watershed protection futures on sustainable groundwater management in a heavily-utilized aquifer in Hawai‘i

April 21, 2021

Groundwater sustainability initiatives, including sustainable yield and watershed policy protection policies, are growing globally in response to increasing demand for groundwater, coupled with concerns about the effects of climate and land-cover change on groundwater supply. Improved understanding of the impacts of watershed management on groundwater yields and management costs—particularly in the broader context of climate […]

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Linking Land and Water Management to Culturally and Ecologically Important Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

March 4, 2021

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) are ecosystems which rely on groundwater. In Kona, Hawaiʻi coastal GDEs include: fish ponds (loko iʻa), anchialine pools, and nearshore ecosystems. Communities and agencies are working to restore and protect these ecosystems for their linked cultural and ecological values, and seek information on the interacting impacts of wastewater management, urban development, […]

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Optimal multi-instrument management of interrelated resources and a groundwater dependent ecosystem

September 1, 2020

We develop and operationalize an integrated groundwater and watershed management model using data from the Kīholo aquifer on the west coast of Hawai’i Island. Results from a numerical simulation suggest that investment in fencing (passive management) is preferred to invasive species removal (active management) if we are limited to selecting a single conservation tool. However, […]

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Incorporating Historical Spring Discharge Protection into Sustainable Groundwater Management: A Case Study from Pearl Harbor Aquifer, Hawai‘i

July 13, 2020

By Kimberly Burnett, Ahmed Elshall, Christopher Wada, Aida Arik, Aly El-Kadi, Clifford Voss, Jade Delevaux, and Leah Bremer The value of considering a range of diverse benefits is particularly salient in geographically isolated areas like the Hawaiian Islands, where judicious management of limited local freshwater resources is essential to sustaining the wellbeing of residents and […]

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Publication: Incorporating Historical Spring Discharge Protection Into Sustainable Groundwater Management: A Case Study From Pearl Harbor Aquifer, Hawai‘i

July 9, 2020

Groundwater management policy around the world increasingly seeks to protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems and associated human uses and values. This includes uses of ecosystems and agricultural systems linked to natural spring discharge. Yet, there are few examples of practical tools to balance human groundwater use with ecological water demand related to spring discharge. Using a simulation […]

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Mountain to sea resource management to protect groundwater dependent ecosystems

May 15, 2020

By Christopher Wada, Kimberly Burnett, and Sittidaj Ponkijvorasin In Hawai‘i and other parts of the world, native forest and valuable linked natural resources are being threatened by forces including land use change, invasive species, and climate change. Management strategies for protecting these resources are commonly divided into two categories: (1) active restoration where interventions such as […]

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Mountain-to-sea ecological-resource management: forested watersheds, coastal aquifers, and groundwater dependent ecosystems

February 1, 2020

Improving the understanding of connections spanning from mountain to sea and integrating those connections into decision models have been increasingly recognized as key to effective coastal resource management. In this paper, we aim to improve our understanding of the relative importance of linkages between a forested watershed, a coastal groundwater aquifer, and a nearshore marine […]

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