Mauka

Toward the mountain; the inland direction. Used in Hawaiian spatial orientation to describe direction away from the coast.

In the thesis, the mauka-to-makai orientation is fundamental to understanding both the ahupuaʻa system and the proposed recovery framework. The rapid elevation gain in the mauka zone provides opportunity for water capture. The watershed rises steeply immediately behind town; precipitation captured above 1,000 feet possesses enough gravitational potential to be distributed without electrical pumping — a redundancy failure that proved fatal in 2023 when power loss stopped the wells and hydrants ran dry. The proposed framework restores this mauka-to-makai hydrological continuity, organizing water-sensitive infrastructure from upland capture through urban distribution to coastal discharge.