Third-graders prove effective in Manoa water project

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Staff Writer

Manoa School third-grader Davyana San Miguel still knows her entire speech by heart.

Davyana San Miguel was one of several students involved in a community project to help reduce water pollution in Manoa. She also persuaded her parents to install a meter on their shower to measure water use. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Davyana was one of the many students who took the project seriously.

"She came home and sat us down and said, 'I'm going to ask you some questions now' and we went through the whole thing, question by question," father Daniel San Miguel says. "It took quite some time. And when we were done, she said, 'Now, we're going to review the answers.' And we started right back at number one."

Davyana's teacher, Carol Nagasako, integrated the project into her curriculum. "You hear all this stuff about 'content standards' in the public schools. Learning about stewardship is one of the content standards for the third grade. This fits perfectly."

Nagasako and the school's other third-grade teachers had their students draw maps, write essays, produce an educational play, learn vocabulary, analyze data from field trips to Manoa Stream and study the science of stream preservation. "At this age, the students really enjoy learning about their environment."

Organizers of the Kuleana Project didn't think kids so young would be able to effectively participate.

"Our target was fifth grade and up," says project coordinator Helen Nakano. "We never even thought about third-graders. But they did such a great job."

In fact, the third-graders conducted the very same surveys as the high-school seniors. Eight-year-old Davyana and her classmates had to learn some hard words, such as "pesticides" and "leptospirosis," and they practiced asking questions before conducting their interviews. They also had to learn all the answers and be able to explain why.

"For pesticides, you shouldn't do it on a windy day or a rainy day," Davyana says, referring to question No. 11 on the five-page survey. "If it's windy or rainy, the pesticides will end up in the storm drains, and that will lead to the stream, and it will cause problems to the native fishes in the stream. It pollutes the water, and then it's hard for the fish to get all their food. And it might poison them because the water goes through them."

She also diligently implemented changes in her home and kept an eye on her mom, Leticia, and her dad, Daniel. Davyana brought home one of the indoor water meters and made her father install it on the shower.

"She made a chart," Daniel says with a grin.

Davyana produces a piece of lined folder paper with the title "How much water did you use?" written in pencil across the top.

Daddy 10 gallons

Davy 15 gallons

Mommy 35 gallons

"I learned that you shouldn't use too much water because we don't have much left," she says.

"It's hard to believe there's a shortage," says Daniel. "Here in the valley, it'll rain for a week."

Davyana also inspired her father to switch to a natural product to control ants in the kitchen, and she notices when folks in their neighborhood are contributing to the problems in Manoa Stream.

"Dad! Look! They're not throwing their rubbish away!"

After a visit to Manoa Stream, she has become an expert on defining nonpoint source pollution:

"An example is litter and pesticides and herbicides and grass cuttings and there's all these food containers and baseballs and thrown-away shopping carts, even unwanted fish and animals and unwanted plants, and that hurts the stream."

On Thursday, Davyana joined her classmates in a sign-waving campaign outside the school. Her sign read, "We love Manoa."

"It's just a wonderful place to be," she says. "But you can't just jump in the stream anymore because if you do, you can get very sick."

Reach Lee Cataluna at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.