On April 9th, the Stormwater Maui team had an awesome time hanging out with the students at Lahaina Intermediate School! We brought our hands-on flume kit to the classroom, and over 100 students jumped right in to learn about the problem of highway runoff. The goal was simple, but the project took some serious brainpower. We challenged the students to act as environmental engineers and build their own Best Management Practice (BMP) to prevent pollutants from washing off state highways and into the ocean.

To make things interesting, each student was given a set budget to spend at our “BMP Store.” They had to think strategically about how to use their funds to buy the best supplies for the job, choosing from sponges, pipe cleaners, rocks, screens, burlap, and felt, which were all priced differently. The students spent the day prototyping, testing, and tweaking their designs to see which combinations worked best while staying within their budget. It was great to see how they used these everyday materials to model the systems that protect Maui’s coastlines. A huge mahalo to the faculty and all the students for your energy and for being such great partners in protecting our waters.