Episode 76: The Future of Water with Dr. Rick Bennett - Waiwai Ola X Maestros Vibe X Earth Week

Today, Juan Espinal, from Maestros Vibe, sits down with special co-host Rae Tereari'i Chandler 'Iao, from Waiwai Ola Ohana, to interview and talk story with Dr. Rick Bennett, a highly esteemed microbiologist serving Hawaiian waters and beyond through his work with Waiwai Ola Ohana and Applied Sciences. We talk about the ocean! The ocean means a lot to Dr. Rick. He has learned that the Hawaiian traditions of the ocean can teach us the way. The ocean is a sacred place that serves as the circulatory system for our Earth. The human impact on our planet has largely been out of sight. The ‘aina is the life force. Sometimes scientists can overwhelm people. Fishable, drinkable, and swimmable water is hard to attain. The impacts of deforestation have already been felt for hundreds of years in places like San Francisco. Our coral are living critters and they don’t like being covered by our dirt. Raging muddy waters are preventable. Over-nourishing our shores will affect our clear tropical waters. The visibility in places is becoming less clear. Our water is becoming murkier. The ocean has its own microbiome like our gut. Polluting our oceans is like dumping poison near our children. Our fresh water on Hawai’i island comes from aquifers that percolate through lava. The fresh water floats on salt water that we pump up for our use. Over-drafting can affect our overall water yields. Some places, like Keauhou, are pumping a lot of water. Data has shown that rainfall on our island has dropped. There has been a public trust designated to ensure the health of our water systems. How do we determine the use of our water wells? It’s not just where the rivers meet the oceans. It’s also about our underground water availability. Geology is so complex. Our formulas are based on the past. Half of our water use is on our lawns. Some sprinklers are poorly installed and waste even more water. Subterranean estuaries rise and fall with our tides. Cold spots in the ocean are subterranean water discharges. Have you ever wondered where the rainwater goes in Kona? There are no streams. Our cesspools interact with our fresh water reserves. It is all driven by a belief that we need to be completely separated from our waste to protect us from our own human waste. Eventually we poison our bays. Hawai’i county does not have enough money to deal with their wastewater. Planned development in Kona is exponential. Pumping goes up as the population increases. Rain water is decreasing. We will need to dispose of more waste. We no longer allow cesspools, but why do we still use drinking water to flush our toilets? There are communities that are recycling their water. There is hope. You can capture your gray water. This is water from your bathroom sink, shower, and washing machine which can be reused for different applications unlike black water which consists of water from the kitchen and the toilet which must be treated differently. We can make fertilizer instead of shipping it in. We are seeing evidence of pollution that is reflective of the East Coast of the mainland United States. Waiwai Ola Ohana: Volunteer Week Hawaii: Dr. Rick’s videos on water issues Healthy Hawaiian Oceans H2O Index Maestros Vibe Patreon:

You can listen to Episode 76: The Future of Water with Dr. Rick Bennett - Waiwai Ola X Maestros Vibe X Earth Week online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 76: The Future of Water with Dr. Rick Bennett - Waiwai Ola X Maestros Vibe X Earth Week is an episode from Maestros Vibe by Maestros Vibe.

This episode is 01:00:48 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2022.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Maestros Vibe when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.