  {"id":223365,"date":"2025-10-08T15:33:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223365"},"modified":"2025-10-08T15:33:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:33:28","slug":"hawaii-water-future-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/08\/hawaii-water-future-report\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> has important role to play in Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s water future"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/system-water-resilience-conference-scenic.jpg\" alt=\"water from a stream\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-168276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/system-water-resilience-conference-scenic.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/system-water-resilience-conference-scenic-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/system-water-resilience-conference-scenic-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Low pay, limited advancement opportunities, and a small applicant pool for specialized positions are among the biggest challenges facing <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>\u2019s water sector, according to a new University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> report. The study also found a strong commitment among water professionals to public service and community well-being, and highlighted opportunities for <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> to help strengthen education and career pathways that support a thriving water future for the state.<\/p>\n<p>The report, published October 8, shares insights from 43 representatives from federal, state and county agencies, as well as private and nonprofit organizations. The findings emphasized the need for both technical expertise and a holistic understanding of the political, cultural, economic and historical dimensions of water in <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>One key finding was, &ldquo;Many suggested that the University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> has an important role to play in convening organizations and people across the water sector and in conducting applied and policy relevant research.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Interviewees cited recruitment and retention challenges driven by low salaries and slow hiring processes, along with a need for more training in specialized areas such as engineering, hydrogeology and aquatic biology. Many also noted that institutional culture and job descriptions do not always effectively attract local candidates with lived experience and a commitment to m&#257;lama <span lang=\"haw\">&#699;\u0101ina<\/span>, or caring for the land. The research highlighted the importance of comprehensive, practical training in communication, project management, fieldwork and community engagement.<\/p>\n<p>The report represents the first phase of a collaborative project involving the <a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Economic Research Organization<\/a> (<abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>), <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/isr\/\">Institute for Sustainability and Resilience<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Sea Grant College Program<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrrc.hawaii.edu\/\">Water Resources Research Center<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/geography.manoa.hawaii.edu\/\">Department of Geography and Environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Funded by the Hawaiian Islands Environmental Finance Center of the <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Community Foundation, the next phase will focus on interviews with <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> departments and professional development programs to identify assets, gaps and best practices for water-related education and careers statewide.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/supporting-thriving-water-futures-through-education-and-career-pathways-perspectives-from-the-hawaii-water-sector\/\">Read the entire report on <abbr>糖心Vlog官方ERO<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The report, published October 8, shares insights from 43 representatives from federal, state and county agencies, as well as private and nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":168276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[301,197,38,1467,1363,1314,158,635,1026,73,9,438,343,1043,347],"class_list":["post-223365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-economics","tag-geography","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-publication","tag-sea-grant-college-program","tag-social-science","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-sea-grant","tag-uhero","tag-water","tag-water-resources-research-center","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/system-water-resilience-conference-scenic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223365"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223369,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223365\/revisions\/223369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}