Conserving Water in the Community Gardens of Honolulu, Hawai’i
Partner organization: Department of Parks & Recreation of the City & County of Honolulu
Team members: Jacqueline Letendre, Matt Gatta, Isabel Friedrichs, Joshua Miller
This project focused on water conservation in Honolulu, Hawaii, where we worked with the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation. The specific problem we focused on is designing and implementing a sustainable solution for conserving water in the community gardens of the Honolulu Recreational Community Gardening Program (HRCGP). The gardens are divided into plots that are permitted to each person who wants to use them. Each gardener is responsible for maintaining their section of the land. By implementing water conservation methods now, we ensure that the community gardens remain flourishing for years. Our goal was to identify, test, create, and implement a water catchment system for the Foster Community Garden of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Additionally, we were tasked with creating educational resources on water conservation for the community. These educational resources will be used to help educate the gardeners on various water conservation methods they can implement in their own plots.
We designed and implemented a water catchment system that helps conserve water in the Foster Community Garden. A water catchment system aids in increasing the water supply, especially in today’s era where conserving water is essential due to factors including climate change. Our first step was identifying the system to implement based on our research and interviews with experts. The next step was to design a system suitable for the Foster Community Garden in Honolulu. This involved finding an open space that met the following requirements: it was large enough to fit the catchment system, in a convenient location for the gardeners, and clear of any tree cover. By evaluating the various methods researched, we determined which system was most efficient and cost-effective given the climate and available materials. The criteria (see [2.3] Hawaiian Background) we used to determine this included installation cost, projected amount of water collected, and amount of space required. After selecting which system to implement, we tested the system during the building process to make sure that minimal rainwater would be lost. Testing also ensured we could make the necessary adjustments to improve the water catchment system’s performance before we completed the building process.
We created and researched educational resources for gardeners to promote long-term water conservation practices in the community gardens. These educational resources demonstrate water conservation tactics that new, current, and future members of the Honolulu community gardens will be able to implement themselves. Our project involves educational aspects that the community would absorb the knowledge best if they could have a visual to go along with the information. We provided this in three educational videos demonstrating how to use the rainwater catchment system, the best ways to water your garden to conserve water, and a video on soil care. These videos provide a visual and audio representation of examples of water-conserving strategies that can be implemented into the gardeners’ daily practices. The videos are embedded into the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation Community Gardening Website under water conservation methods and can be found in Appendix N: Rainwater Recycler Demonstration Video. The educational aspect of our project included written resources for the gardeners to further their awareness of water conservation strategies that they can use. We used our background knowledge and research, including the interviews with gardening experts to create educational infographics for the gardeners. These resources can be viewed in Appendix J: Soil Care Infographic. The infographics are printed and displayed in the gardens that have bulletin boards, will be passed out at garden meetings, and will be given out along with the information given to new gardeners when they receive a plot. These resources are embedded into the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation Community Gardening Website under water conservation methods along with the demonstration videos.
Even though one of our sponsor’s initial motivations was to cut costs for the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, we realized the outcomes of what we produced are more than money. It is easy to measure money, however, the goal is to educate the gardeners, spread awareness, and inspire others to implement water conservation strategies. As we look to the future, one of the more meaningful outcomes of this project is how it brings the community gardens members together. They now have a shared space and shared goal. This project is not just about water conservation; it is also about strengthening the community and their relationships as well. The Rainwater Recycler will continue to hydrate the plants, creating more sustainable gardens that do not rely on tap water for years to come. The ideas and methods we have used here are not limited to this project; they can be replicated across other community gardens throughout Hawaii. Most importantly, this project is a foundation for better water conservation practices.