Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Randall Wakumoto and Doug Harper on a Rainwater Capture Incentive Program

Transcript

Randall Wakumoto and Doug Harper on a Rainwater Capture Incentive Program · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:15
  Welcome to the One Oahu podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and joining us this week is Randall Okamoto, program
• 0:21
  administrator for the Department of Facility Maintenance, the Storm Water
• 0:25
  Quality division, and Doug Harper, executive director of Malama Maunalua.
• 0:29
  Thank you both for joining me.
• 0:30
  Thanks for having.
• 0:31
  Us. Randall, I want to start with you.
• 0:34
  Can you tell me first a little bit about your role here at the city?
• 0:37
  What exactly, do you do?
• 0:38
  What is the storm water quality division?
• 0:41
  Sure.
• 0:42
  So as a stormwater quality division,
• 0:45
  we're responsible for administering the city's stormwater permits.
• 0:49
  And this is all under the large federal clean water Act,
• 0:53
  in which case the Environmental Protection Agency.
• 0:56
  And here on in Hawai'i, it's the state Department of Health
• 0:59
  that regulates that in which the city needs to apply for a permit
• 1:03
  in order to allow our stormwater, you know, system
• 1:07
  to discharge that stormwater into what is like the receiving water.
• 1:11
  So, like into the streams, into the ocean.
• 1:13
  And it's really meant to help protect the environment, to prevent
• 1:17
  discharges of illegal things like dirt and oils
• 1:21
  and other kind of polluted runoff from getting into those receiving waters.
• 1:25
  And then, Doug, same for you.
• 1:27
  Can you tell us a little bit
• 1:27
  about what you do and a little bit about more on the Moana Law?
• 1:31
  Yeah.
• 1:31
  So I'm the executive director at National Mall, who, as you mentioned,
• 1:34
  and the organization was founded in 2005 by longtime concerned residents
• 1:39
  that saw that Moanalua Bay had degraded from what they remembered as kids.
• 1:44
  So they founded the organization with the idea that they need
• 1:48
  someone, some entity focused on the bay, to try and restore it.
• 1:52
  And so since then, we've been working to try and address the many issues that,
• 1:56
  unfortunately, Moanalua Bay confronts every day.
• 1:59
  And where were you before this, and what do you think prepared you
• 2:02
  for this role?
• 2:03
  I used to work so right before I worked for Malama Malu.
• 2:06
  I worked for NOAA here in Hawai'i, and my role
• 2:10
  there was really serving as kind of a community liaison
• 2:13
  and going to community organizations and saying, what is it that you need
• 2:18
  that the federal government might be able to provide, to help you better,
• 2:22
  prepare for disasters, to better manage some of the environmental resources,
• 2:27
  around Hawai'i or even the broader Pacific.
• 2:30
  And so that was really good because it gave me an understanding,
• 2:32
  a little bit of what a lot of the local communities
• 2:34
  were dealing with and where there were resources
• 2:37
  that maybe they didn't know about, that we could bring in to help.
• 2:40
  And so when I started with Malama Mong,
• 2:42
  Lou is a great way to kind of take that knowledge and put it at the local level.
• 2:46
  Yeah. Randall, what about you?
• 2:47
  How long have you been with the city? What prepared you for this role?
• 2:50
  I'm kind of dating myself, but I have been with the city for 28 years.
• 2:54
  So all actually, with the storm water quality,
• 2:57
  I've seen it grown from a four person branch all the way till now.
• 3:01
  It's about roughly about 36.
• 3:03
  And as a division under our Department of Facility Maintenance.
• 3:07
  You two do very important work.
• 3:09
  But tell us about this partnership that we have going on
• 3:12
  for the next couple of months as it relates to rainwater.
• 3:15
  Maybe we'll start with you.
• 3:16
  Can you talk about the rainwater capture incentive program?
• 3:19
  Yeah.
• 3:20
  So the the program started earlier this year, and the idea is that stormwater
• 3:24
  runoff is an issue that that affects
• 3:26
  residents, affects the environment, and that we need to do something about it.
• 3:30
  And one of the ways we identified was the installation
• 3:34
  of what is called green infrastructure,
• 3:36
  which are things like rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable pavement trees
• 3:40
  and getting those installed to try and capture some of this rainwater.
• 3:44
  And the issue that we were the issues we were hearing most consistently
• 3:48
  is people didn't know how to do it and they didn't have the funds to do it.
• 3:50
  And so through this grant,
• 3:52
  we're purchasing the equipment and we're installing it.
• 3:55
  So it eliminates the need for money or the knowledge and how to do it.
• 4:00
  And so, Randall, what's the city's role in this program?
• 4:03
  So we're basically partnering with a lot of our nonprofits.
• 4:06
  So like malama non aloha.
• 4:08
  But we have other agreements and partnerships in other parts of the island.
• 4:11
  And the whole idea is to try to encourage as many homeowners to try to implement
• 4:16
  these kind of green stormwater solutions to help retain the water,
• 4:20
  let it soak into the ground, not runoff on their property.
• 4:24
  And it affects and impacts our storm drainage system,
• 4:27
  which there right could lead to flooding and drainage issues.
• 4:29
  So it's with the goal of trying to really expand it and using our partners
• 4:34
  to really help engage with the community, because they know a lot of the issues
• 4:37
  and really
• 4:38
  they've been instrumental in getting the word out
• 4:40
  and trying to get as many people to participate.
• 4:42
  What about for the homeowners themselves?
• 4:44
  Why should they care?
• 4:46
  Well, I think, you know, definitely you know, it has a lot of benefits
• 4:49
  with this program.
• 4:51
  Obviously, I think, you know, one of the the barriers, like Doug mentioned,
• 4:55
  was just to get somebody to do it for them and to cover some of the costs.
• 4:59
  But, what we see is in,
• 5:01
  you know, by doing this, you can get a lot of different types
• 5:03
  of benefits, like, you know, esthetic wise,
• 5:05
  you know, putting in a garden, a rain garden or putting in a tree.
• 5:09
  But at the same time, we're helping to preserve and protect our environment
• 5:12
  and also using it to kind of, help to replenish our groundwater supply.
• 5:17
  So that we can store that water,
• 5:19
  use it for other purposes, but then thereby also even reducing
• 5:23
  your reliance on the fresh water, you know, drinking water.
• 5:27
  And that way you can use it for
• 5:28
  what it's really intended, which is for drinking purposes.
• 5:30
  Right?
• 5:31
  Yeah.
• 5:31
  You mentioned, you know,
• 5:33
  maybe they don't know how to set up a rain garden or a rain barrel.
• 5:37
  So what was the genesis of this project for folks that,
• 5:41
  you know, don't know how to do this stuff?
• 5:42
  Why was important now for you to go and do it for them?
• 5:46
  So I think that's kind of
• 5:47
  like what we've been hearing a lot is we have workshops that we host.
• 5:52
  We train folks how to do it.
• 5:54
  We even provide them with all the materials.
• 5:55
  So I think what them folks at Malama Moanalua is taking it even a step further,
• 6:00
  where they're actually putting them in contact with somebody who has the training
• 6:04
  and maybe the experience to install it for them, because they maybe
• 6:07
  they're not equipped, or maybe they just don't have that kind of knowhow.
• 6:11
  And that's what we've heard a lot, you know, because they're a little bit,
• 6:14
  you know, concerned about how they might do this.
• 6:17
  So I think we're trying
• 6:18
  to eliminate some of those, those barriers and make it as easy as possible.
• 6:22
  And this is one way we're trying to see if this could work.
• 6:25
  So it's like a pilot again what we're kind of emphasizing.
• 6:27
  And we're hoping that it could lead into a bigger program,
• 6:30
  you know, and be able to expand it island wide and make it available
• 6:34
  for as many people as possible,
• 6:35
  because it sounds like there's a lot of interest in it, too.
• 6:38
  Doug, is that what you're hearing as well?
• 6:39
  There's been a lot of interest, and it's one that I think a lot of people
• 6:43
  understand the value that green stormwater infrastructure provides.
• 6:47
  But there's that hurdle.
• 6:49
  You know, it's a little bit like going to a party,
• 6:51
  you know, like the idea of showing up to the party is kind of scary.
• 6:54
  Then when you get there, you're like, oh, this is actually great.
• 6:57
  And it's like that with this is people think about green stormwater
• 7:00
  infrastructure and the barrier to actually implementing it is a little bit.
• 7:05
  And then when they do it, they're like, oh, this is great.
• 7:07
  Why haven't I always been doing this?
• 7:08
  And so the more and more we've talked to people,
• 7:10
  the more and more people see infrastructure that's been installed.
• 7:13
  The more and more folks that are commenting and saying, I want to sign up.
• 7:16
  I want to be a part of this. Yeah.
• 7:17
  Once it's a little easier to understand, then of course, once you say free stuff,
• 7:20
  the interest grows.
• 7:21
  But how do we how do we see this program growing in the future?
• 7:25
  Because realistically,
• 7:27
  there's going to need to be more money in order to accommodate more homeowners.
• 7:31
  And I think from
• 7:33
  the money, Louis perspective, you know, like Randall mentioned this as a pilot,
• 7:36
  we're hoping we can hand this off to them, and the city and county
• 7:39
  can then run with it and, and help with the installation.
• 7:41
  But then also from a lama money Lewis perspective is there's more
• 7:45
  and more recognition of the issues that that polluted stormwater runoff cause.
• 7:50
  So there's more foundations that are willing to provide funding
• 7:53
  so we can go for and help address some of the folks that maybe don't get,
• 7:58
  green infrastructure installed this time around, but in the future, still want it.
• 8:02
  And we can get another round of funding to do that.
• 8:04
  Can you guys talk a little bit more about how these green infrastructure
• 8:08
  implements work?
• 8:09
  Like what's the difference between a rain garden
• 8:11
  and just a normal garden that I see when I'm walking around my neighborhood?
• 8:14
  Yeah.
• 8:15
  Yeah.
• 8:15
  So, it's pretty much similar, right?
• 8:18
  You know, because it's it's soil, it's plants.
• 8:22
  And really what it is, is just trying to get as much of the rainwater
• 8:26
  to soak up into those areas.
• 8:27
  And sometimes what we try to encourage is where you're placing it.
• 8:31
  It's, you know, in a area that is strategic because that's
• 8:34
  when you look at the contours of your land and where the water goes
• 8:38
  and flows, because everything is all basically gravity, right?
• 8:41
  It's going to go downhill.
• 8:42
  So and it's looking for the low spots in your property.
• 8:45
  So that's where the water starts to accumulate.
• 8:47
  And that's why
• 8:47
  when it rains, you might find that you get this big pond in your yard or something.
• 8:51
  And it's because it's all finding that way to that location.
• 8:54
  So the idea is to put something that will absorb that water.
• 8:58
  And the benefit of a rain garden
• 9:00
  is that you may end up using certain types of soils
• 9:03
  that really encourage water to really flow through, you know, because if you have
• 9:07
  a certain type of soil on your property that's like clay material, it's
• 9:10
  going to start expanding
• 9:12
  and it's going to soak up the water,
• 9:13
  but it's not going to let the water really drain down through.
• 9:16
  All it's doing is it's kind of it's just almost like it is good.
• 9:19
  It's a sponge, but it's not letting the water go down into the ground further.
• 9:23
  Right.
• 9:23
  So now after a period of time, it's going to now
• 9:25
  let the water just keep piling up above it, well above it.
• 9:28
  Right.
• 9:29
  So the idea is to use what they call like amended soils
• 9:32
  that really still lets the water go through it.
• 9:35
  And it also can act as a filter, you know, so all the things that's associated
• 9:40
  with that water, you know, that it's sort of like filtering and removing it.
• 9:43
  Like that's the idea behind it.
• 9:45
  One of the other options is native trees.
• 9:49
  You know, with this program. So why natives?
• 9:51
  Why is that important?
• 9:52
  How do they benefit?
• 9:54
  Yeah.
• 9:54
  Native plants, you know, they've,
• 9:56
  you know, evolved so to, to survive Hawaii's climate.
• 10:00
  They, you know, for lack of a better phrase, understand how to survive here.
• 10:05
  And invasives just kind of come in or non-natives come in
• 10:09
  and they don't survive the climactic patterns
• 10:12
  of periods of drought, the periods of high rain, quite as well.
• 10:15
  So the planting the native
• 10:17
  makes it easier in the long run to maintain it and keep it alive.
• 10:21
  But it's also beneficial because it's a native plants
• 10:24
  and you know, getting those in the ground, getting those around just has
• 10:27
  an inherent value in and of itself that you're using something that evolved
• 10:31
  for millions of years here in Hawaii, or hundreds of thousands of years,
• 10:35
  and using that as opposed to something that was picked up,
• 10:38
  you know, from from someplace else and transplanted here.
• 10:42
  Doug,
• 10:44
  is this what you always wanted to do?
• 10:46
  Yeah, actually, the funny thing is, I actually grew up in Kansas.
• 10:50
  Okay. But, yeah, you're you're talking about native plants.
• 10:53
  As you know, you've grown here and had your hands in the soil all your life.
• 10:56
  No, no, I mean, I grew up in Kansas,
• 10:58
  so I guess there is the agricultural, like having your hand in soil that way.
• 11:01
  But, obviously there wasn't a whole lot of ocean work to do there,
• 11:05
  but it's something I've always been interested.
• 11:06
  I always had a passion for.
• 11:08
  And so what what did it take to get you to this point?
• 11:10
  Like, did you where did you go to school?
• 11:12
  Where did you study?
• 11:13
  I went to school at, University of Kansas.
• 11:16
  So I made no positive benefits towards getting closer to the ocean.
• 11:21
  I actually moved farther inland from where I grew up.
• 11:23
  And, then from there I moved to Washington, DC
• 11:28
  and worked for some different nonprofits and got a job with NOAA.
• 11:32
  And so I was actually working for for Noah in DC before
• 11:35
  transferring or not transferring, but switching jobs to American Samoa.
• 11:39
  So I lived down there for several years, and I bounced up here
• 11:42
  and just have been kind of moving around, finding, finding a place.
• 11:45
  And I found a place I love to be in. I loved American Samoa.
• 11:48
  I loved all the places I've been in.
• 11:49
  But this definitely I'm enjoying what I'm doing.
• 11:52
  I'm enjoying the people I'm working with. So how did that happen?
• 11:54
  Where did the interest get piqued? Right.
• 11:56
  You were, you know, because now you deal with oceans and you were in Kansas.
• 12:00
  So how did that evolution happen?
• 12:02
  It's a little cliche, but I think it I honestly was watching like Jacques
• 12:06
  Cousteau documentaries is you see these amazing things
• 12:09
  and you're like, oh my God, that's nothing like what I have.
• 12:11
  You know, like I look out and it's prairie grass and neighborhoods
• 12:15
  and farms, and then you see an octopus, you're like, okay, that's alien.
• 12:18
  That's that's pretty cool.
• 12:20
  And that's just I mean, that grabbed my interest right away.
• 12:23
  And I got books and those stupid little cards.
• 12:26
  I say stupid, but it helped me.
• 12:27
  The cards that you know, that have the picture
• 12:29
  of the animal on one side and the facts on the other.
• 12:31
  And I went through and read all of those and slowly
• 12:35
  made my nerd way out, to the Pacific Ocean.
• 12:38
  And, Randall, what about you?
• 12:39
  How are you now? An expert in you know, permeable,
• 12:44
  okay.
• 12:45
  How did you how did you get to this point?
• 12:46
  I don't know if I'm still would be considered an expert
• 12:49
  because I'm always learning, you know, because it's always evolving the program.
• 12:52
  But you know, it's been really interesting.
• 12:54
  You know, I don't think I thought I'd be in this field, to be honest.
• 12:58
  You know, it kind of just happened that way.
• 13:00
  But once I got into the city and started my career in the stormwater
• 13:05
  quality program, I just saw how, you know, so much potential.
• 13:09
  There was, there was a lot of things.
• 13:11
  Again, we were just a very small group,
• 13:13
  but you could see a lot of things that were going on in the program.
• 13:16
  And just every day you're always learning something new.
• 13:20
  And even to this day, I'm still learning a lot because,
• 13:23
  you know, you can see that there's so many different technologies and ways
• 13:27
  things are changing, you know, having to address things
• 13:30
  like climate change and sea level rise, flooding and drainage.
• 13:34
  Well, in the beginning when I first started,
• 13:35
  I was just only just focusing on just the water quality aspect. Right.
• 13:38
  But then as you continue to keep learning more about the program,
• 13:42
  you can see how vast it is and how it ties into so many other things.
• 13:46
  And that's been really interesting.
• 13:47
  And, something that I really look forward to.
• 13:50
  And not to, you kind of mentioned this, right?
• 13:52
  Dating yourself.
• 13:53
  So was it difficult to get into this field when you did?
• 13:57
  And were there ever points where you were like kind of
• 13:59
  feel like you're fighting this battle launched?
• 14:01
  People are more interested now, right, with groundwater and where our water goes
• 14:04
  especially, it's like a little more woke to talk about these things.
• 14:08
  But like, you said back then, it wasn't.
• 14:10
  So what made you want to do it and why? Stay with it?
• 14:13
  Well, to be,
• 14:14
  I guess again, Frank again is it was available at the time.
• 14:18
  I had no idea what the program was about.
• 14:20
  When I applied with the city,
• 14:21
  I actually didn't even realize I had applied for this position, you know.
• 14:25
  What did you think you were applying for?
• 14:27
  Just an engineer with the city.
• 14:29
  That was kind of like how it worked, right?
• 14:30
  You just, you know, you just apply it as an engineer.
• 14:33
  And then
• 14:34
  and then I guess an interview popped up and they called me up and I'm like, oh,
• 14:37
  I didn't even realize I applied for this position.
• 14:39
  And I'm interested to learn about it, of course.
• 14:42
  But, you know, just from day one, though, I kind of learned a lot like, you know,
• 14:46
  because we had really good people in that that program at the time,
• 14:50
  you know, and just learning from them and absorbing all the information.
• 14:53
  But yeah, I kind of was a, a learning process
• 14:56
  and just kind of really interesting.
• 14:58
  And I don't know, I've been I've been blessed to meet a lot of great people,
• 15:02
  a lot of engineers and who've kind of mentored me
• 15:04
  and kind of teach me a lot of different things.
• 15:06
  So I think I've been pretty fortunate.
• 15:09
  Well, we're grateful for the work
• 15:10
  that you both do and the positions you're both in.
• 15:12
  Back to the incentive program, though, for those who maybe live in a condo
• 15:17
  with a tiny lanai or maybe even just a window,
• 15:20
  is there a way for folks like that to participate?
• 15:23
  Maybe their AoE AoE has some green space on the bottom.
• 15:25
  I mean, can they still apply? And how does that work?
• 15:28
  Yeah.
• 15:29
  Yeah, yeah, they can still apply.
• 15:31
  It's a little bit more challenging because there is,
• 15:33
  you know, usually with apartment buildings there's managers and stuff.
• 15:36
  But yeah.
• 15:37
  But even, you know, like it sounds super easy, but even putting out pots on your,
• 15:44
  lanai and doing plants
• 15:46
  there, I mean, it's not a huge amount that you're gonna capture that way,
• 15:49
  but we're working with shopping centers and homeowners right now or,
• 15:54
  apartment complexes.
• 15:55
  Right now to try and find ways to do it, around the grounds of the apartment
• 15:59
  complex itself, of putting in large rain catchment areas.
• 16:03
  I mean, it's great for the for them because it minimizes flooding,
• 16:05
  which a lot of those places often
• 16:07
  have because they have parking lots and everything else.
• 16:10
  And what is the Follow the Drop app and how does it work?
• 16:15
  Do you want to handle that?
• 16:16
  Yeah, sure.
• 16:17
  So this was kind of like a, you know, a process that,
• 16:21
  you know, getting to know, you know, this is where it was
• 16:24
  a, a program that was in the stages of development.
• 16:29
  You know, there was already funding
• 16:30
  and they already had developed this program, this follow the Drop app.
• 16:34
  And, you know, what we saw was the potential what how it could be used.
• 16:37
  Right.
• 16:38
  You know, because the idea was to use it as sort of like an educational tool
• 16:42
  to understand, you know, this is your property,
• 16:45
  this is where your water goes.
• 16:47
  And if it rains, this is how much water you could expect to generate,
• 16:51
  you know, in terms of runoff.
• 16:52
  And the idea was then to then add on things to it, to then say,
• 16:57
  what could you do?
• 16:58
  What are some of those solutions that you could, you know, possibly
• 17:02
  implement, implement on your property and in a way to try to optimize it?
• 17:06
  Because, you know, what we don't want is it causes even more problems, right?
• 17:10
  If you were to do things.
• 17:11
  So that's where there's a lot of programing. There's a lot of,
• 17:15
  you know, calculations
• 17:16
  running in the background, but we want to make it as simple as possible.
• 17:18
  So we worked with this, this, this company that was developing it,
• 17:23
  you know, and this is Loren Roth, she was instrumental in,
• 17:27
  you know, bringing in her developers.
• 17:29
  And what we did was to sort of like, keep adding on these features.
• 17:32
  So that's how we added in things like rain gardens and rain barrels and,
• 17:37
  tree plantings and just giving them as many options that people can choose from.
• 17:42
  Right?
• 17:42
  So that's how it kind of started as just more of an educational tool to understand
• 17:46
  how much runoff you're generating and how much water
• 17:49
  is being captured on your property.
• 17:50
  But now coming up with the solutions.
• 17:52
  And then that's where we're now hoping to use that as a tool to assess
• 17:56
  each person's property and giving them sort of a, report
• 18:00
  and tell them, if you were to do this,
• 18:02
  this is how much water you could actually save, right?
• 18:04
  Yeah. Doug, anything to add?
• 18:06
  No, I think the photo drop back app has been huge
• 18:10
  in giving people an understanding of how much water's coming off their land,
• 18:14
  because I think a lot of people, it's such a nebulous idea of like, oh, it rains.
• 18:19
  And then it kind of disappears eventually,
• 18:21
  you know, it runs off and they don't think about,
• 18:23
  you know, the thousands of gallons or hundreds of thousands of gallons
• 18:25
  that come off, you know, either every storm or at least every year.
• 18:29
  And then being able to identify where those locations are, it's, it's
• 18:32
  a huge help.
• 18:34
  And like I mentioned earlier, of that knowledge gap that people have,
• 18:37
  this is one of those tools that's available to cover that gap.
• 18:41
  And when it comes to this effort, I know that, you folks aren't alone.
• 18:44
  There are other organizations and groups that help in this effort.
• 18:49
  Yeah.
• 18:49
  So Loren Roth, as he mentioned, has been helping with this.
• 18:52
  And then there's been a lot of organizations
• 18:54
  with from neighborhood boards to,
• 18:58
  different planners that have helped us in kind of building this up.
• 19:02
  So we've used them a little bit
• 19:03
  as kind of an advisory panel because they're
• 19:05
  they're the experts, experts on so many parts of this.
• 19:08
  Swoosh is, is one of the organizations that we've worked with.
• 19:11
  And or I guess bodies that we've worked with, it's not a separate organization.
• 19:16
  And, and they've just been able to provide their wisdom and helping us
• 19:19
  frame this out.
• 19:21
  What about, here in the city around or what are the departments
• 19:24
  that you see yourself working with? The most?
• 19:26
  Well, we work, you know, very closely with, you know, like the water supply,
• 19:31
  because we have a very common mission and we are also working very closely
• 19:35
  with the Department of Environmental Services because,
• 19:37
  you know, as part of what we're kind of now the city
• 19:40
  has under our Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency,
• 19:44
  they've developed a like a, you know, sort of a one water panel.
• 19:48
  Right.
• 19:48
  So that's where we're kind of connecting
• 19:49
  with all the different water agencies and those that have an impact
• 19:53
  and really trying to collaborate and, you know, talk about different things.
• 19:56
  And it might be from a,
• 19:57
  a wastewater perspective, but it also could be a water perspective
• 20:00
  and a stormwater.
• 20:01
  And this is how
• 20:01
  we all kind of try to work together and see how we can come up with solutions.
• 20:05
  And for those who are familiar, what is one water.
• 20:07
  So the intent of one water is really to look at water as a resource.
• 20:11
  And it's really to, you know, it's
• 20:13
  not just one particular agency, but it's really a collaborative effort.
• 20:17
  And it's the idea is to come up with,
• 20:20
  you know, different ideas and plans and it's either to address climate,
• 20:25
  climate change or resiliency and really coming up with sustainable solutions.
• 20:29
  That's going to help the, the,
• 20:30
  you know, the city, but also all, you know, everybody in the public
• 20:34
  of being able to address the things that's going to come down in the in the future.
• 20:38
  We know that, you know, climate change is here and it's just going to get worse.
• 20:41
  And so it's really trying to get prepared
• 20:43
  for when that starts to really become a big problem for everybody.
• 20:47
  I hear what you're saying
• 20:49
  and I know it's important, but not everyone is a climate champion.
• 20:52
  And when you say things like mitigating storm pollution or protecting groundwater,
• 20:56
  not everyone is as passionate as the two of you.
• 20:59
  So, Doug, I'll start with you.
• 21:00
  How do you navigate that or how do you influence behavior?
• 21:04
  Yeah, it's a you know, the million dollar question.
• 21:07
  And and I think the big thing is, especially when you're
• 21:10
  talking about water is that affects everyone.
• 21:14
  And so it's bringing it to the level that they are interested in it.
• 21:18
  And so they might be someone that's a fisher or a surfer or
• 21:24
  does anything in the water.
• 21:25
  I mean, so many people here are active in the ocean and saying like, stormwater
• 21:28
  runoff is bringing pollution to the ocean, like when you see those brown
• 21:32
  water advisories,
• 21:33
  when you hear about people that go out in the rain
• 21:36
  or go out after a rainstorm and get sick,
• 21:38
  that's because of the pollution that the stormwater runoff is picking up.
• 21:41
  And if it's someone that is like, I live here and I never go in the ocean
• 21:45
  and I don't care about what happens out there.
• 21:47
  I live in my home and there are people like that.
• 21:49
  The fact is, is you look at the flooding that takes place, you know,
• 21:53
  that is because of the volume of stormwater runoff
• 21:55
  from all this pavement that we put in place.
• 21:57
  You know, you've got
• 21:58
  and if they're in a place that they feel like they're they're protected from that.
• 22:02
  Well, think of the vulnerabilities of the highways.
• 22:04
  You know, all those places.
• 22:05
  We had the big storm and in high in the back, and I think 2018 or 2019
• 22:10
  that flooded colonial Illinois Highway, you know, that cuts off East Honolulu
• 22:15
  from access
• 22:15
  to main Honolulu like that is something that we all need to be concerned with.
• 22:19
  And as rain storms are going to get more severe moving forward,
• 22:24
  that's going to happen more often unless we start doing what we need to do now.
• 22:28
  And so for those people who are kind of like, yeah, whatever
• 22:31
  things seem to be going okay, it's trying to find that
• 22:35
  that issue that they're concerned with and showing how this impacts that.
• 22:39
  Yeah. Randall, anything to add?
• 22:41
  No, I totally agree with what Doug just mentioned.
• 22:43
  And you know, kind of personalizing it. Right.
• 22:45
  You know, so whatever it is that they're interested in
• 22:48
  maybe there are certain activities or maybe it's their profession,
• 22:51
  or maybe it's just the fact that you've experienced
• 22:54
  some of those impacts where it's impacted their community.
• 22:58
  And, you know, hopefully trying to put that into perspective of,
• 23:02
  you know, remembering when that happened, right.
• 23:03
  And then just bringing that to the forefront of their minds of
• 23:06
  when that happened.
• 23:07
  How did that impact you?
• 23:08
  You know, you recognize that? Yeah.
• 23:10
  I wasn't able to get out of my area.
• 23:12
  We were cut off from, you know, from other areas.
• 23:15
  And we couldn't, you know, get in touch with other folks.
• 23:19
  And we were concerned
• 23:19
  about the safety of other family members and things like that.
• 23:23
  You know, I think that's kind of personalizes it. Right.
• 23:25
  And then that's how we can try to express, you know, what are the importance
• 23:29
  of stormwater, because unfortunately, it's not like it happens every single day.
• 23:34
  Right?
• 23:34
  You know, everybody on you remembers that when the big events happen.
• 23:37
  Right?
• 23:38
  So if everything is just working as well as possible
• 23:41
  and there's no problems when it rains or whatever it is,
• 23:44
  then I guess we take it as a success, right?
• 23:46
  Because that's where it's functioning as it's supposed to be.
• 23:49
  But the problem, though, is that, you know, we're trying to encourage is
• 23:54
  everybody is
• 23:54
  stormwater is a little bit different because it's really everybody's problem.
• 23:58
  It's everybody's responsibility.
• 24:00
  It's not just the city government or the state government
• 24:03
  or it's federal government, but it's really everybody.
• 24:05
  And that's how we're trying to use this program
• 24:07
  to kind of encourage people
• 24:08
  to all participate because it's, you know, every little thing helps.
• 24:12
  And when you look at it like one person's property, if they were to do that,
• 24:15
  if you multiply it amongst every single property, it really adds up
• 24:19
  and you can really just do the math, right.
• 24:21
  Simply, you know, if you look at one single family home,
• 24:25
  you know, if you look at just a typical average annual rainfall,
• 24:27
  if you were to happen throughout the year, and then you calculate that
• 24:31
  you could actually see that it's generating over a million gallons of water
• 24:36
  for just that one typical 5000 square foot of property.
• 24:40
  And if you multiply that by x amount by the thousands, you can see
• 24:44
  that number exponentially growing.
• 24:45
  And that's what's happening, right?
• 24:47
  Whenever it rains, all of that water is generated is runoff.
• 24:50
  And that's all going out into the storm drains into the ocean, you know.
• 24:53
  So every little bit does help. Yeah. Yeah.
• 24:56
  I mean, that's the difficult part, right.
• 24:58
  Making people care, trying to influence behavior.
• 25:01
  But on the flip side, what do you love most about your job?
• 25:05
  Well, I really enjoy working with different people.
• 25:08
  Right.
• 25:09
  You know, you see a lot of interesting stories.
• 25:12
  I've gotten to know a lot of different people with a lot of different knowledge.
• 25:15
  Like, even like Doug, you know, they're very passionate, you know,
• 25:18
  and they're really interested in wanting to make a difference in their community.
• 25:21
  And that really excites me.
• 25:23
  You know, to see these groups that want to try to make a difference, right.
• 25:26
  Because a lot of times we're having to deal with more of the other side where,
• 25:30
  you know, I was getting complaints about somebody is dumping something.
• 25:34
  And or maybe they're, you know, doing something illegal or whatever it could be.
• 25:38
  And, you know, you're trying to change their behavior. Right?
• 25:40
  But unfortunately, sometimes we just got to go in, hit them with a fine
• 25:44
  or something, I guess, you know, because, you know, no matter what you tell long,
• 25:47
  it's like like you said, you know, they don't believe in climate change.
• 25:50
  Maybe they don't really care.
• 25:51
  You know, whatever it is that they're doing, you know, they just.
• 25:54
  It won't affect them. Yeah. No.
• 25:55
  You know, it's like, you know, I've been doing this all my life.
• 25:57
  So what's the big deal?
• 25:58
  Like, you know, and it's, you know, sometimes
• 25:59
  we hear the story like it's just dirt, right?
• 26:02
  Or even if it's like paint or something,
• 26:04
  it's water based paint, like, what's the big deal?
• 26:06
  Like, you know, it's like, you know, it's just water or something, you know?
• 26:08
  So it's just trying to change that mindset and hoping they understand.
• 26:12
  Like, you know, like you said, if there are fishermen
• 26:14
  or they're a surfer, hopefully they have that connection with the water.
• 26:17
  Yeah. So what about you?
• 26:19
  What do you what do you love most about your job?
• 26:22
  There's so many different things, you know, like, a lot
• 26:24
  because we're we're focused on marine conservation.
• 26:26
  It means I get to go diving and snorkeling and get in the water, which is.
• 26:30
  Which is always nice.
• 26:31
  But I think
• 26:32
  from a professional standpoint, honestly, it's the passion that so many people
• 26:36
  have about protecting their homes, protecting their resources.
• 26:39
  You know, there's not certainly in America,
• 26:41
  there's not a ton of places you can go where people have such a deep connection
• 26:45
  to the resources, where they live.
• 26:47
  And so when you go out and you talk about trying to protect
• 26:51
  the coral reefs or protect the native forests or whatever it may be,
• 26:55
  there's so many people that have such a profound connection to it
• 26:58
  that it's really energizing to see because, you know, especially for,
• 27:02
  you know, a lot of conservation groups, a lot of government organizations
• 27:05
  and stuff, it can be really daunting and really depressing
• 27:08
  when you look at the range of issues that we're dealing with,
• 27:11
  and then you go out in the community and people are like,
• 27:14
  I'm going to roll up my sleeves and point me where I need to get to help,
• 27:18
  and that it's just really it makes it fun for me
• 27:22
  because it's it's just fun to see and,
• 27:25
  you know, kind of really fills you up with with hope and pride.
• 27:29
  Well, gentlemen,
• 27:30
  is there anything that we missed?
• 27:34
  Wow, that's a good question.
• 27:39
  I think you hit most of the things if people.
• 27:40
  I guess one thing is, for those who are interested on Oahu
• 27:44
  and participating, go to rainwater, hawaii.com.
• 27:47
  That is where you can sign up.
• 27:48
  That's where you can learn about the Follow the Drop app that we mentioned.
• 27:52
  So you can do that at home.
• 27:53
  If you do, use the Follow the Drop app, which we found.
• 27:56
  Not everyone, has read the fine print,
• 27:59
  which is make sure you put in Oahu as the code all lowercase.
• 28:03
  If you don't, it doesn't work properly.
• 28:05
  And then we get an email.
• 28:07
  And so to minimize those emails go to Rainwater hawaii.com.
• 28:11
  Click on the follow drop app and put in Oahu all lowercase.
• 28:15
  Any final thoughts around the no.
• 28:17
  I've been really, you know, it's been a really good experience,
• 28:21
  working with Malama Manoa.
• 28:23
  And I think we're really looking forward and we're encouraged
• 28:25
  that, you know, when we first were planning this
• 28:27
  and when they got the grant and they were kind of
• 28:29
  scoping out how they're going to try to develop this pilot program,
• 28:33
  it actually was in their first, you know, conversations of what happens
• 28:37
  if nobody applies.
• 28:38
  I, you know, and that was a fear was that nobody was going to be interested.
• 28:41
  But I think once they rolled it out, we're seeing there's a lot of interest.
• 28:45
  So that's been very encouraging.
• 28:46
  And I think we're really excited about that.
• 28:48
  Yeah, that's a good problem.
• 28:50
  Well Randall, welcome.
• 28:51
  Water from the city, Doug Harper, Malama moanalua.
• 28:53
  Thank you both again for joining me.
• 28:55
  Thanks so much for having us. Thank you.
• 28:57
  And those websites again rain water hawaii.com.
• 29:00
  You can also check out Doug's group at Malama moanalua.org.
• 29:04
  And we thank you for listening to the One Oahu Podcast.
• 29:07
  And until next time. Hello.