LIHUE — Once the environment is broken, it is very hard to fix it, said Chloe Ayonon, a fifth-grade student at Island School Thursday during the Make A Splash water education festival.
“Humpty Dumpty, presented in part by the Grove Farm Company, was my favorite part of Make A Splash,” Ayonon said. “A pot, representing our environment, was broken, and we had to put it back together. That was pretty hard.”
Ayonon was one of 650 fifth-graders taking part in the 15th annual Make A Splash day presented by the county Department of Water in partnership with several community organizations, including Grove Farm, Aqua Engineers, the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, and others.
“We are the village,” said Becki Malapit, a DOW associate who had the task of watching students who misbehaved during the classes’ tour of four stations from a field of a dozen that offered aspects of water education. “This is our 15th year, and we are the only county in the state who offer this water education festival.”
Jonel Kaohelauli‘i, DOW’s outreach officer, said the most popular event is “The Long Haul,” which represents the journey water makes to reach home faucets. This station has been on board the day’s calendar since the first Make A Splash.
“This started out as a department education event,” said Jason Fujinaka, another DOW associate. “Then, we opened it to the students, and it has grown from there. This year is about the biggest number of students we’ve seen.”
Students participating in the water education festival hailed from around the island, including the public schools, charter schools, private schools, and extended to include several home school students who converged on the Pua Loke Arboretum, which had special traffic monitors in place to ensure student safety.
Laurie Ho, a county Board of Water Supply member, said the program was initially started when the DOW secured a grant.
“We’re trying to expand the program to the rest of the state,” Ho said. “Our previous community outreach person traveled to the Neighbor Islands to help train people there. This year, we have several people from the Big Island who came to see how this event runs. Maybe this is the start of Make A Splash on the other islands.”
Attorney and small business owner Thomas Yano, a Make A Splash volunteer, said Kauai has more water per person than anywhere else in the state.
“We moved here because of that,” Yano said. “We have to take care of our water.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
