In “Hawaiian Lullaby” by Peter Moon and Hector Venegas, first performed by The Sunday Manoa in 1973, are some beautiful lyrics applicable to lush upper Manoa Valley:

“Where I live there are rainbows.” In the valley, green with vibrant trees, are “birds filled with song.” And, “I can smile when it’s raining.”

Manoa Valley recharges a lot of the island’s freshwater, absorbing it back into the ground to become usable drinking water in 25 years. The upper hillsides see hundreds of inches of rain per year, but even the urban residential areas in upper Manoa get 100 inches of rain in a normal year.

Areas like the Manoa Chinese Cemetery, where a large apartment complex — the Manoa Banyan Court — is being proposed on a naturally forested parcel zoned for general preservation and urban planned to be used as green space. This 14.6 acre parcel gets 99.5 inches of rain in an average year, which amounts to 40 million gallons of rainwater falling on the site every year.

This proposed development will increase rainwater runoff over 9.5 acres to 70%. The developer estimates the existing runoff for the site to be around 40%, but my observations having lived in the area my entire life lead me to believe that the existing runoff is currently much less, probably less than 10%.

Even if it were 40% as claimed, an increase to 70% over 9.5 acres amounts to 7.7 million gallons of water per year of increased runoff, water that is not absorbed and not available as future freshwater.

For context, that much water is enough to support around 150 Oahu residents. But I think that’s an extremely low estimate: If runoff is more like 10% today, that would make the runoff increase by 15.4 million gallons per year, enough water to support 300 island residents.

I no longer hear children laughing. In my nightmares our children have lost access to adequate freshwater, due in large part to over-development of our island today.

Please help me save this place that I love. It’s not just my place; this place serves everyone on our island. And it’s not too late to save it.

The draft environmental assessment (DEA) for the Manoa Banyan Court proposal is now open for public comment, through Jan. 23 (see https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/erp/The_Environmental_Notice/ 2022-12-23-TEN.pdf).

And, contact the city Department of Planning and Permitting and demand a full environmental impact statement (EIS) to study all the environmental impacts of this proposal, including but not limited to, impacts on our future freshwater.

Seth Kamemoto is a software engineer and lifelong Manoa resident.