Safeguarding Coral Reefs with a Curb-cut Rain Garden

According to the Coral Reef Alliance, "For much of the last century, the prevailing philosophy guiding stormwater management in the United States was to protect homes and businesses from flooding, so storm drains and other infrastructure were designed with the goal of getting stormwater away from human-populated areas as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because of this historical legacy, most storm drains in Hawaiʻi still flow directly or indirectly into the ocean. This means that when it rains, all sort of pollutants – from fertilizers from golf courses to oil on people’s driveways to fallen leaves – end up traveling down storm drains and getting dumped into the ocean, often directly on top of the coral reefs. Low Impact Design (LID) Practices prevent stormwater pollution from reaching the ocean by seeking to mimic natural processes in undeveloped areas that allow storm water to be slowed down, stored, filtered, or sunk into the ground. The Hawaiʻi Coral Reef Strategy (HCRS)’s West Maui Watershed Management Plan has identified LID systems as an effective means of reducing water pollution."