Through a grassroots effort spearheaded by local high school student Nikki Montenegro, Keahole Center for Sustainability (KCS) will install three new water refill stations — two at Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School and one at Waimea Elementary School — Friday.
“I want to reduce single-use plastic water bottle usage and disposal while increasing the quality of health for all local keiki on our island,” Montenegro said, junior project manager at Keahole Center for Sustainability. “And this water refill unit is just one of many to be donated and locally installed this year.”
As of today, the project has installed FloWater filtered refill units at Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) and Holualoa Elementary School with more unit installations. Plans for this fall include additional stations at West Side schools.
“If every student in Hawaii schools were to bring one plastic bottle of water daily for the 173 days of a typical school year, it would generate 5.19 million plastic water bottles going to our local landfills,” Montenegro said.
The project was recognized this summer by the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce with a Pualu Award for Business Innovation, an award that recognizes organizations that use teamwork to provide business leadership and community service. Her efforts were also lauded by Gov. David Ige.
The new initiative, dubbed the Water Refill Community Sustainability Action Program, will donate water refill stations to every school in Hawaii facilitated by local nonprofit KCS. The project was recently started and inspired through a KCS mentorship with Montenegro, after she saw so much plastic on local beaches and when diving the shoreline.
KCS Executive Director Candee Ellsworth worked with Montenegro to identify the problem by observing how plastic was used in the community and brainstorm solutions. Over the span of several months, Ellsworth helped the HPS student narrow her focus to reducing single-use plastic water bottle usage first on the Island of Hawaii. They decided it was important to replace the single-use water bottle usage in schools with water that was fresh, clean and tasted good, and found the solution was providing filtered water stations instead of a water bottle refill source.
“Single-serve plastic water use is where we can quickly make a huge local impact, not only for reducing plastic waste, but also for improving the health of residents,” Ellsworth said. “Many of the schools here on the island have very old infrastructure and Nikki wanted the water provided to be safe, and for students and school staff to perceive it as safe as well. “Nikki personally fundraised and spearheaded this effort.”
Ellsworth added that many Hawaii Island schools are between 50-80 years old, making the infrastructure possibly decades old, even for the ones that have been renovated. The decision to use FloWater units was inspired by a local Hawaii entrepreneur. The units provide water that passes through a seven-filter system that alkalizes and adds electrolytes to the water, providing a healthy alternative while also reducing plastic waste.
Funding for the project has been possible by private sources and grants. Those who would like to donate can do so through the KCS website under “Sustainability Action.” School administrators and organizations interested in obtaining a FloWater unit for their schools are encouraged to email Ellsworth at kcs@kcshi.org.
Keahole Center for Sustainability, a private, local nonprofit, is located at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority’s Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kailua-Kona. The organization hosts educational programming and community outreach programs, and its overall mission is to promote education and advocacy through the culturally sensitive and environmentally sound use of sunlight and seawater for a sustainable future for Hawaii, and to highlight and perform sustainability action within our community.