Watershed Studies


2009 MAUNALUA BAY REGIONAL WATERSHED STRATEGY--A COMMUNITY APPROACH, click link to download pdf.

A new study has been launched to measure the impacts of runoff and sedimentation from the upper watersheds to the reefs of the bay and begin to develop a model for appropriate management activities to improve water quality and the health of the coral communities.
Current and water quality meters have been deployed into the bay to support the modeling portion of the study and determine the primary sources of freshwater discharges, sediment and pollutants. They will identify the areas affected and establish a baseline to judge which measures are having the most positive impact in improving the bay’s water quality.
Mālama Maunalua is coordinating this effort to engage researchers, resource managers and the community to address the decline of the health of Maunalua Bay in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, Mālama Hawai‘i, the National Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Islands Regional Office, the Hawai‘i Coral Reef Initiative and the University of Hawaii’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory.
Please see the attached flyer for more information about this study.







Below in 3 parts are videos of visiting national USACE experts discussing local Maunalua Bay watersheds.

Dave Derrick, Research Hydraulic Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, USACE

Rich Fischer PhD, Research Wildlife Biologist at the Environmental Lab, USACE