Honolulu Storm Water Quality Division Receives National Recognition

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) Stormwater Institute recently announced the winners of its 2021 National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Awards, among whom was the Department of Facility Maintenance (DFM) Storm Water Quality (SWQ) Division.

This prestigious award recognizes stormwater management programs with the best efforts to protect local health and safety, detect and eliminate environmental hazards, and build community support. The City and County of Honolulu’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) Phase 1 Program was awarded Gold for Program Management and Silver for Innovation. Only one Gold winner is named in each category (six categories total), making SWQ one of only six winners nationwide.

The MS4 Program’s Gold Award recognizes its efforts as the best in the nation in Program Management. The City earned the top prize due to its ongoing efforts to establish Hawaii’s first-ever stormwater utility on the island of O‘ahu, as well as its many initiatives aimed at mitigating pollutants in runoff, engaging the public in watershed protection, and understanding emerging threats to water quality. Along with these efforts are its public outreach efforts including its Adopt-a-Block and Adopt-a-Stream programs.

“We are so honored by this recognition and are so proud of the team led by Division Chief Randall Wakumoto, his dedicated staff and team of consultants who all work tirelessly to manage our many programs and projects,” said Roger Babcock, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., Director and Chief Engineer of the DFM. “While this is a tremendous award for our team and the City, we do recognize that there is still so much work to be done. We hope this will show our community what we can accomplish together and inspire everyone to get involved.”

For more information about the City & County of Honolulu’s SWQ and its programs, call (808) 768-4319 or visit the DFM-SWQ website.