About This Project

Mizu-Wai Memories explores how hands-on lauhala weaving and oral story exchanges can strengthen intergenerational connections and equitable stewardship of East Maui’s waterways. Through community gatherings, participants weave small symbolic forms while sharing memories and hopes for the future of wai, water. A culminating interactive work shares the conversations with broader audiences while highlighting different ways of knowing as part of environmental story data mapping.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

In July 2025, Alexander & Baldwin relinquished control of the largest private water system in Maui to Mahi Pono, creating a critical moment for more equitable, community-led water stewardship. The newly formed ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina Community Board offers a path for greater public voice in shaping the future of East Maui water. This project aims to supplement community discussions around this often contentious topic. Mizu-Wai Memories responds with lauhala weaving workshops to bringing people together in a safe space to share stories, reflect on history, and envision a just water future as control shifts from private hands to public good.

In the late 1800's water rerouting by sugar cane irrigation ditch systems began diverting millions of gallons daily, disrupting native ecosystems, water flows, and Kanaka Maoli agricultural lifeways. In this new era of community informed stewardship, a public informed of the past can better envision the future.

What is the significance of this project?

There is urgency in this moment as water moves from private hands to more public ones. Elders with living memories of plantation life under the East Maui Irrigation system are passing, risking the loss of first-hand accounts of a pivotal era in Maui’s history. At the same time, many current Maui residents have no generational relationship to these water histories, creating a gap in shared understanding. This project bridges that gap by inviting intergenerational and intercultural dialogue through the tactile, symbolic act of weaving with hala—a plant impacted by water diversion. By pairing moʻolelo of the past with collective envisioning of the future, Mizu-Wai Memories fosters community reflection on the transition of water management from private control toward a more public centered stewardship, ensuring that the voices, values, and lived experiences of East Maui communities shape the path forward.

What are the goals of the project?

Mizu-Wai Memories seeks to preserve, share, and activate community knowledge of East Maui’s water systems during a critical shift from private to public stewardship. The project gathers intergenerational stories from kūpuna and cultural practitioners about pre-plantation and plantation-era water stewardship, as well as visions for future stewardship. Lauhala weaving workshops invite participants to engage in dialogue on water history, ecology, and values, seeded with kūpuna storyweavings that highlight traditional indicators of water health such as the presence of ʻōpae and ʻoʻopu. Pre- and post-workshop assessments measure changes in participants’ water knowledge and cultural appreciation. Increased civic engagement will be assessed in collaboration with local groups. Weavings will be paired with augmented reality features to amplify stories in a traveling installation engaging a broader public in the care and history of our water systems.