Nerd Nite Honolulu, Hawaii Sea Grant, and Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations presents “TURD Nite” at Anna O’Brien’s, Tuesday February 7, 2023.

Sea Level Rise – a Real 💩 Storm:
Shellie Habel, PhD

As sea level continues to rise, the functionality of cesspools and other types of onsite sewage disposal systems are being threatened, specifically in low-lying coastal areas. This is occurring both by coastal erosion and groundwater inundation of these systems. Modeling and monitoring by our team and fellow colleagues will make you say “Ewwww”

Shellie Habel, PhD, serves as a research specialist with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program and as a coastal geologist/hydrologist with Dr. Chip Fletcher’s Climate Resilience Initiative. Her research focuses mainly on simulating compound inland flooding induced by sea-level rise. As part of this research she monitors present impacts of groundwater inundation and other sources of coastal flooding, and uses hydrologic modeling to identify potential impacts to critical infrastructure.

Cesspools are Poo-pools, What Are We Doodoo-ing About It?💩
Shayla Waiki, MS

Hear about her cesspool dye tracer work as a graduate student and the efforts in outreach and policy the WAI team along with many others are focused on to address this crappy situation.

Shayla Waiki completed her MS degree at UH Hilo focusing on sewage pollution in the coastal community of Keaukaha, Hawaiʻi and is now a UH Sea Grant Grau Fellow working with Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations (WAI), a non-profit organization focused on cesspool conversion in Hawaiʻi.

Making Sanitation Sexy Again
Stuart Coleman, MFA

Stuart will share his journey from working on plastic pollution and water quality issues at the Surfrider Foundation to starting up our non-profit WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations, which is focused on reducing sewage pollution in Hawaiʻi. During my time at Surfrider, we started a new project called Civics Is Sexy, which helped introduce hundreds of people to the state’s legislative process and eventually pass landmark bills banning single-use plastics and mandating the closure of all cesspools by 2050.

Stuart Coleman, MFA, is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations. Previously, he worked for ten years as the Hawaii Manager of the Surfrider Foundation. He helped lead coalitions to shape policy and pass landmark legislation, including the nation’s first and only bill to create smoke-free beaches and parks and a mandate to convert all of the cesspools across Hawaiʻi. He serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Sea Grant Program and the Cesspool Conversion Working Group. Coleman is also the award-winning author of three books about modern Hawaiian history, culture and surfing, including Eddie Would Go.