New coastal water data tools offered to the Maui community under collaboration with Aqualink and Hui O Ka Wai Ola

Aqualink, a leading platform for real-time oceanographic data, and Hui O Ka Wai Ola, a community-driven water quality monitoring organization, announced a collaboration that aims to provide Maui’s community with enhanced monitoring information and new interactive tools for tracking local coastal water data. 

Aqualink provides users around the globe with instant access to critical metrics about their local beaches and reefs. Utilizing NOAA satellites, the platform offers daily temperature, wind, and wave condition updates. In addition to viewing real-time conditions, users can choose specific reefs or beaches to save to a personalized dashboard for easy reference and monitoring. 

By integrating Hui O Ka Wai Ola’s water quality data, Aqualink sites throughout Maui now offer a more complete picture of the health and condition of coastal sites around the island.

“This collaboration with Aqualink is a significant step forward in our mission to protect Maui’s coastal waters,” said Liz Yannell, Program Manager for Hui O Ka Wai Ola. “By including our data into Aqualink’s dashboard, we’re creating an easy way for people to ‘watch over’ their favorite beaches, helping to raise awareness and drive action. These tools will empower our island community to join a global network of ocean stewards and advocates.”

For Maui sites, the Aqualink dashboard shares information such as sea surface temperature, wind, wave, and heat stress analysis while Hui O Ka Wai Ola provides data on salinity, pH, turbidity (water cloudiness/murkiness), and nitrate levels (a wastewater and/or fertilizer indicator). The partnership is based on the idea of “thinking globally, acting locally.” By combining local insights with global data, the community has more tools to understand the impacts of climate change on marine environments. 

“The Aqualink locations with water quality data from Hui O Ka Wai Ola are the first of its kind in our network,” said Caesar Hjerten, Aqualink spokesperson. “Now, scientists and locals alike can easily access information about water conditions around Maui. We hope it will inspire the community to take an active role in protecting and preserving their marine life.”

The collaboration has been in the works for over two years, as Aqualink worked behind the scenes to modify its system to integrate the water quality data. “We so appreciate Aqualink’s inspired vision and dedication in bringing our data to their platform,” said Tova Callender of the West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative. “The Hui is grateful for their collaborative approach and willingness to keep tweaking the system to make data management as easy as possible on our end, even though that meant customizing the tool for our purposes.”

• To view Aqualink sites visit: aqualink.org.
• To view Hui O Kai Ola’s site on Aqualink visit: https://aqualink.org/collections/778 
• To choose specific reefs or beaches to save to your personalized dashboard, visit: https://highlights.aqualink.org/HOKWO.