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HONOLULU - www.stormwaterhawaii.com -The Hawai'i Department of Transportation announced today at the Waikiki Aquarium its school outreach initiative, part of DOT's O'ahu Storm Water Management Program (Oahu SWMP). The school outreach initiative is designed to educate elementary school students about the dangers of pollutants entering storm drains and flowing into the ocean.

"This initiative will teach the students how they can reduce pollutants going down our storm drains into the ocean," said Barry Fukunaga, director of the Hawai'i Department of Transportation.  "By reaching the students, we reach their families.  Not many people are aware that what goes down our storm drains, such as trash and debris, flows unfiltered and untreated into the ocean that we swim and fish in."

HDOT also introduced its SWMP mascot, "Mālama" (which means to care for and protect), a humuhumunukunukuapua'a.  "We chose a humuhumunukunukuapua'a because it is the state fish, and also a reef dweller," said Fukunaga. "Coral reefs and the fish that live on the reefs are highly susceptible to polluted water."

Mālama's name was chosen by elementary school students who participated in a contest sponsored by HDOT.  More than 800 children participated, and 15 of them independently chose the name "Mālama." The winners are:

Mālama will guide students through an activity sticker book created to teach them and their families about storm water and what they can do to help keep the ocean clean.  The "Stick It to Storm Water Pollution" sticker book will be distributed to first-through fourth-grade classrooms on O'ahu.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation's comprehensive O'ahu Storm Water Management Program (O'ahu SWMP) is designed to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) Permit for the O'ahu Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (O'ahu MS4). The Oahu SWMP is designed to reduce the amount of pollutants entering storm drains and flowing into Hawai'i's streams, rivers and ocean.