ABOUT EVENT

Seminar Abstract

Hawai‘i faces a critical infrastructure and environmental challenge with over 80,000 active cesspools discharging untreated wastewater across the state. This presentation introduces the Hawai‘i Cesspool Prioritization Tool (HCPT)—a geospatial, web-based decision support system designed to algorithmically rank cesspools based on their risk to public health, water resources, and coastal ecosystems. Built at the intersection of computer science, environmental data science, and GIS, HCPT integrates heterogeneous spatial datasets, including groundwater vulnerability models, land use, population density, and coastal proximity, into a scalable and responsive platform.
The talk will explore the system’s architecture, including its data pipelines, spatial analysis components, and optimization logic. It will highlight recent enhancements that incorporate existing and planned sewer infrastructure layers to support dynamic scenario modeling for sewer system expansion. Emphasis will be placed on the challenges of handling spatial uncertainty, automating geoprocessing tasks, and designing a user-friendly interface that serves stakeholders across state agencies, counties, and communities.
This case study illustrates how computer science tools—particularly those focused on spatial data analysis and visualization—can translate complex environmental risk into actionable insights for public policy and infrastructure planning.

Speaker Bio

Christopher Shuler is a Faculty member of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, focused on Community Engaged Research. He holds a PhD in Geology and Geophysics specializing in hydrology from University of Hawaii at Manoa, a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Oregon as well as a post-baccalaureate certification in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Christopher’s current research is focused on ground and surface water resources in Hawaii and the American Samoa. His interests include numerical groundwater modeling, geo-chemical and isotopic aqueous chemistry, environmental water quality, and water sustainability studies. Christopher is an avid naturalist, outdoors person, and enjoys working in the field in both terrestrial and oceanic environments.