College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
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Hawaii Water Quality Extension Program
nps 319 | kauai watersheds | nawiliwili | project 96-405
 
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Natural Resources Extension

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Hawaii is a member of the Southwest States and Pacific Islands Water Quality Coordination Team


 
 
Project Name: The Integration of Aquaculture with Taro Production in Hawaii: A Commercial Demonstration of Pollution Abatement, Soil and Water Conservation, Controlled Eutrophication and Waste Recovery
ASO Log No.: 96-405
Start/End Date: January 1996 to November 1998
Federal Funds: $83,875.00
Matching Funds: $56,750.00
Contractor: Ramon de la Pena
University of Hawaii – CTAHR
Department of Land and Natural Resources
3060 Eiwa St., Room 306
Lihue, HI 96766
Phone: (808) 241-3400
Background/
Overview:
Agriculture has been documented as the nation’s largest contributor of nonpoint source pollution, where the primary pollutants are nutrients, sediment, animal wastes, salts, and pesticides. Nutrient rich effluents, silt sedimentation, and dissolved solids are commonly discharged as nonpoint source pollutants from commercial taro farms and from intensive aquaculture systems into receiving waters in Hawaii. Similarly, most aquaculture crops in Hawaii today are grown as monoculture crops in intensive cultivation systems where large biomass is produced in a relatively small volume of water, resulting in high concentration of effluents discharged into receiving waters where significant negative impacts to water quality can occur.
Objectives/Goals: To demonstrate that the integration of aquaculture with taro production systems can significantly reduce nonpoint source pollution caused by agricultural discharges of dissolved chemical fertilizers, high nutrient content aquaculture effluents, sediment, total dissolved solids, and pesticides.
Methods Employed: Study the ability of both wetland taro and dryland taro to recover waste nutrients and suspended solids from aquaculture effluent discharged from intensive aquaculture tanks. Also to study the ability of the polyculture pond to recover/recycle waste nutrients, and trap silt and total dissolved solids which are discharged from two taro fields.
Pollutants of Concern: Sediment, nutrients, pesticides
Watershed: Nawiliwili, in Niumalu, island of Kauai
Size of Project: on a farm adjacent to Puali Stream
Affected Water Bodies: Puali Stream and Nawiliwili Bay
Deliverables: Not described in report
       
EPA Section 319 Success Stories, Vol III hi-lites Integration of Aquaculture with Taro Production: Nonpoint Source Pollutants Reduced in Demonstration Project
 
 
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Cooperative Extension Service programs, conducted in cooperation with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, are provided to the people of Hawaii without regard to race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, sexual orientation, or veteran status. The University is an equal opportunity / affirmative action institution.