#hui o ka wai ola

Hui O Ka Wai Ola, a volunteer-based coastal water quality monitoring program, has resumed regular testing at Mākena Landing after community members made clear how much this stretch of coastline means to them. Hui O Ka Wai Ola previously monitored Mākena Landing from 2017 to 2020. In recent years, the site has drawn more requests for renewed monitoring than any other in the program’s history.

Hui O Ka Wai Ola, a coastal water quality monitoring program, has expanded its testing efforts to five sites along Molokaʻi’s south shore, the group announced. The expansion comes at the request of Maui County Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and marks the program’s first regular presence on Molokaʻi. The nonprofit has monitored coastal waters in […]

Water cloudiness caused by sediment exceeds state health standards at every monitored site across leeward Maui, with the most dramatic increases in North Kīhei, where turbidity has climbed sharply since 2021 to levels that threaten roughly 1,500 acres of coral reef.

In 10 years of monitoring West Maui’s waters, one network of citizen scientists has noted other findings like rising salinity due to years of drought and declining nitrates as the residual impacts of Lahaina’s plantation days fade away.

Mākena Golf & Beach Club will host Hānau Kana, He ʻākoʻakoʻa, Puka (Born was the Coral, It Rises), a benefit dinner celebrating Maui’s reefs, coastal waters, and the community efforts working to protect them. The special evening event will take place Saturday, June 27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Mākena’s Nāulu Farm.

A group of citizen scientists and water quality experts are working to find out what’s causing recent changes offshore.

The Kula Community Association invites community members to attend its General Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, featuring timely updates on invasive species, water quality, watershed restoration, and East Maui water management. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the evening, beginning with food and informal conversation.

A “floating workshop” hosted by the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) brought lawmakers, agency leaders, community organizations and landowners onto the water to see for themselves the stark differences between coral reefs in decline and reefs that remain healthy and resilient.

The Maui Nui Marine Resource Council will host the December edition of its “Know Your Ocean Speaker Series” featuring Caesar Hjertén of Aqualink and Liz Yannell of Hui O Ka Wai Ola on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom.

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation announced more than $1.2 million in grants to 18 organizations and programs providing meaningful contributions to the goal of the Holomua Marine Initiative, which focuses on protecting and restoring nearshore marine areas in Hawai‘i through community engagement and co-management. The grantees have programs in Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i Island, Moloka‘i, Maui, O‘ahu and statewide.

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. 

Hui O Ka Wai Ola released a new report on coastal water quality at dozens of locations from Honolua Bay to ‘Āhihi-Kīna’u Natural Area Reserve. The report summarizes changes—both improvements and declines—in water quality over eight years of data collection and confirms that measurements at sites in the Lahaina area remain within normal ranges.

A Super Reefs Open House will be held from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. today at Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute. The event will feature short talks, demonstrations, touch tanks and refreshments.

Hui O Ka Wai Ola will share findings from a biannual report that outlines ocean water quality conditions along a 40-mile stretch of Maui’s leeward coast. The organization will also share notable trends and patterns indicated by monitoring coastal water quality in key areas around the island, giving focus to new data from the areas of Lahaina, North Kīhei and Lāna’i.

Ocean water quality samples taken from seven sites off the Lahaina burn zone showed no high bacteria levels five months after the Aug. 8 wildfires, according to the 2023 Blue Water Task Force water quality report released by the Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi.

Hui O Ka Wai Ola, a community-based water-quality monitoring organization, was awarded funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to increase its collection of West Maui water quality data in response to the Lahaina wildfire.

Hui O Ka Wai Ola increased its response to the Lahaina wildfires by launching four additional coastal water testing sites in West Maui (Māla Tavern, Māla Ramp, Papalaua Street, and Lahaina Harbor) and by hiring the organization’s first Fire Response Team Lead.

The organization, a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council and West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative, has continued actively monitoring coastal water conditions in West Maui since the wildfire and was the first group to perform post-fire sampling in the area.

“Due to the old infrastructure of Lahaina, storm water does not flow into settling basins or modern infrastructure, so it flows as quickly as possible into the ocean. So, that’s a huge concern with the amount of potentially toxic substances on the land now,” said Russell Sparks, an aquatic biologist with the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources.

Maui’s volunteer-based ocean water quality monitoring program Hui O Ka Wai Ola has been evaluating water quality in Maui since 2016. This week, the program celebrated a special milestone: its 100th sampling week in South Maui.