(BIVN) – Erica Perez from the Coral Reef Alliance gave a talk about Puakō during the Water Quality Workshop at the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo on Saturday.

In her presentation, Perez detailed “the Puakō community’s struggle to better manage their wastewater to conserve marine resources”.

According to the Coral Reef Alliance website:

Clean Water for Reefs Puakō is a community-driven project that seeks to address wastewater pollution on the Puakō Reef. Wastewater pollution is found off the entire coast of Puakō and causes serious damage to corals, negatively affects marine wildlife and poses human health risks.

The website says that “after an in-depth review of the Preliminary Engineering Report that was publicly released in 2016, the Advisory Committee, AQUA Engineering and CORAL put forth a formal recommendation to pursue an onsite treatment facility” to service Puakō.

Keaukaha Action Network partnered with Waiwai Ola Waterkeepers to put together the two-day Water Quality Workshop at UH-Hilo. The workshop was held on October 19th from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and October 20th from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.