Heavy Rains And Tons Of Dumped Raw Sewage Keep Waikiki Beach Closed

Heavy Rains And Tons Of Dumped

Raw Sewage Keep Waikiki Beach Closed

 

 

By JANIS L. MAGIN - New York Times

Several hundred yards of beaches in Honolulu from Ala Moana Park to the military's Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki were closed to swimmers for a second day because of high bacteria levels, and the rain refused to let up. Five of Oahu's six public golf courses, the Honolulu Zoo and a popular botanical garden were also closed because of flooding.

A sewer line on the back side of Waikiki broke March 24, and the city had to divert the wastewater to the Ala Wai canal until Wednesday, some 48 million gallons over the five and a half days, instead of allowing it to back up into homes, hotels and businesses, said Bill Brennan, a spokesman for the City of Honolulu. The canal leads to the ocean near Waikiki Beach.

"If wastewater backed up into those areas, it would have been catastrophic and certainly devastating," Mayor Mufi Hannemann told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

The Hawaii Department of Health is testing the ocean water daily for fecal bacteria levels, some of which were recorded at levels thousands of times higher than acceptable, said Kurt Tsue, a department spokesman.

Officials do not know how long the beaches will remain closed, but they do not expect any more closings.