Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Waikiki Ala Wai Canal Is Dangerous, Bacteria Infested Water - Paddle At Your Own Risk

Waikiki Ala Wai Canal Is Dangerous, Bacteria Infested Water - Paddle At Your Own Risk

 
 
Karen Ah Mai, executive director of the Ala Wai Watershed Association, says she became involved in trying to clean up the canal years ago out of concern for her daughter, a paddler.

“Every mom’s horror story is that their child will overturn their canoe in the Ala Wai Canal,” she said. “And after she did that twice, I said, my God, I need to do something about this because moms have nightmares about their children falling in the Ala Wai Canal.”

Ah Mai also worried that her daughter could get sick simply by swallowing the contaminated water.

“If they should accidentally drink some of that water, I dread to think what would happen to their systems,” she said. “When the kids are paddling during the high school season, we know that most of the kids are going to get an infection.”

Health experts say that the pollutants in the canal can cause skin, ear, eye and throat infections, as well as painful gastrointestinal illnesses. More serious concerns center around bacterial infections that can be resistant to antibiotics.

Paddlers with open wounds are at particular risk.

“You really have to get those cleaned out well because that is a broth of bacteria,” said Dr. Jim Ireland, a kidney specialist and former emergency services director for the city.

But despite the warnings of health experts and the concerns of paddlers and parents like Ah Mai, there’s little support for banning paddling, and in particular, outrigger canoe racing — Hawaii’s state sport and an interscholastic high school sport.

The Ala Wai Canal is one of the best places to practice and race because of its flat, controlled environment.

In the evenings, paddlers gliding along the canal have a view of the thousands of lights that illuminate the Waikiki skyline. And as they head out past the mouth of the canal and into the open ocean they’re greeted with the turquoise Waikiki waters lit by the brilliant hues from the sun setting along the horizon.

Outrigger canoe paddlers say that the Ala Wai Canal is one of the few places to practice around Honolulu that has an exit to the ocean. Waikiki and the beach at Ala Moana have been off limits for years.

US EPA Treats Hawaii Like Third World Basket Case So Clean Water Legal Action Lacking

US EPA Treats Hawaii Like Third World Basket Case So Clean Water Legal Action Lacking

 
 
Environmental attorneys have sued the state in the past in order to force action on water quality. But even they have little inclination to take on the Ala Wai Canal again.
 
They say there is no federal requirement to shut down the canal. The state is required to come up with a federally approved plan to reduce the bacteria counts, which it hasn't done, and the EPA, which has the power to intervene, hasn't made the state comply, environmental advocates say.
 
That means the only recourse is to sue the state for failing to comply with Clean Water Act regulations, they say.
 
Both state and federal officials said the lack of resources is the real problem and that the state health department doesn't have enough people or money to address all the water pollution throughout the state.
 
Right now the state’s priorities are on tackling pollution in areas such as Hanalei Bay on Kauai, where the water contains high bacteria counts, and west Maui, where injection wells could be polluting the nearshore waters, says Watson Okubo, who supervises water monitoring for the state health department’s clean water branch.

 
Dean Higuchi, a spokesman for the EPA, acknowledged that the state was required by federal law to come up with a plan to reduce the bacteria levels in the Ala Wai Canal. But the EPA has no intention of cracking down. He said that the state's limited resources could be put to better use in other areas.
 
“The Ala Wai (watershed) is a very large, large area that will take an immense amount of resources,” he said. "If you sink all your resources into the Ala Wai, then others get neglected.”
 
Daniel Cooper, an attorney for San Francisco-based Lawyers for Clean Water, said that the Clean Water Act doesn't have "a lack of resources exception."
 
“So the state says, ‘Oh it doesn’t matter.’ But they are violating federal law right now,” Cooper said.
He said it’s “disgraceful” for the EPA to take the position it has no legal obligation to try to force the state to comply.

Waikiki Ala Wai Canal A Long Smelly Mess

 



Waikiki Ala Wai Canal: Makes You Sick - Shut Down Public Access?

Waikiki Ala Wai Canal: Makes You Sick

- Shut Down Public Access?

 
 


VIDEO: Waikiki Canal Builders Didn't Look To The Future

VIDEO: Waikiki Canal Builders Didn't Look To The Future

 
 
Hawaii civic leaders hoped the Ala Wai Canal would bring economic prosperity and stop the spread of disease they thought was coming from the fields and wetlands. In the 1920s, no one gave much thought to what the destruction of the ecosystem might mean for a future filled with a million people.
 
Hawaii civic leaders hoped the Ala Wai Canal would bring economic prosperity and stop the spread of disease they thought was coming from the fields and wetlands. In the 1920s, no one gave much thought to what the destruction of the ecosystem might mean for a future filled with a million people.


SLIDESHOW: Photos Show A Changing Waikiki

SLIDESHOW: Photos Show A Changing Waikiki


http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2013/05/20/19102-slideshow-photos-show-a-changing-waikiki/

Historic photos, many from the Hawaii State Archives, show how the Ala Wai Canal changed the Waikiki area. From lush farms, fields and wetlands to a lanscape scraped and filled by dredging machines and other turn-of-the-century equipment, business and civic leaders transformed the area.


Waikiki Beach in 1902
 


Helumoa

Outrigger canoes

Duck pond

VIDEO: Waikiki Canal Builders Didn't Look To The Future

VIDEO: Waikiki Canal Builders Didn't Look To The Future

Hawaii civic leaders hoped the Ala Wai Canal would bring economic prosperity and stop the spread of disease they thought was coming from the fields and wetlands. In the 1920s, no one gave much thought to what the destruction of the ecosystem might mean for a future filled with a million people.
Hawaii civic leaders hoped the Ala Wai Canal would bring economic prosperity and stop the spread of disease they thought was coming from the fields and wetlands. In the 1920s, no one gave much thought to what the destruction of the ecosystem might mean for a future filled with a million people.


DATA: Waikiki Ala Wai Water Bacteria Danger Levels Off The Charts

DATA: Waikiki Ala Wai Water Bacteria Danger Levels

Off The Charts

 
 


VIDEO: Is The Waikiki Ala Wai An Asset Or A Liability?

VIDEO: Is The Waikiki Ala Wai An Asset Or A Liability?

 
 
The Ala Wai Canal is at the center of one of Hawaii's most congested and most developed regions.
 
Pollution and other problems abound, but it remains a Honolulu landmark.
The question now: what to do about it?


 




Special Report - The History and Future of the Waikiki Ala Wai Canal

The History and Future of the Waikiki Ala Wai Canal


 
Special Report - The history and future of the Ala Wai canal.

The Ala Wai Canal's History

  • 1890's


1896

New government passes Act 61

1896

  • 1900's


1906

Board of Health warns of disease

1906

  • 1910's


1910–1920

Waikiki attracts wealthy

1906



1937

Ala Wai Golf Course expands

1937

  • 1940's

    1940s

    Waikiki boasts boat races and fishing

    1940s


  • 1950's



Waikiki development explodes
1950


1967

Canal filling with muck

1966


1978

Canal stinks, fish gasp for oxygen

1978

  • 1980's


1983

Canoe paddlers turned away by raw sewage

1983


1998

Task force devises cleanup plan


The state of Hawaii has done a horrible job in gaining control of nonpoint source pollution

 



Federal law prohibits the flow of high levels of contaminants into the Ala Wai. But since most of it is simply runoff, it’s coming from sources that are hard to pin down let alone regulate.

“When you are talking about thousands of individual property owners who are contributing to the overall degradation of the canal, who do you want me to fine?” said the health department's Gill.

Environmental activists argue the state could be doing more to control runoff, even from residential property.

“The state of Hawaii has done a horrible, horrible job in gaining control of nonpoint source pollution that is damaging our waterways and hurting our economy,” said David Henkin, an attorney for Honolulu-based Earthjustice.

In this year’s legislative session, Gill pushed for a bill that would have expanded the health department’s authority to combat runoff, including sewage from residential cesspools that is suspected of flowing into waterways when it rains.

But the bill died. Broader requirements in the legislation affected more than just homeowners' cesspools. Agricultural and industrial interests also would have been required to control runoff from their properties, some of which flows into the Ala Wai. Major businesses and developers lobbied against the measure, including Alexander & Baldwin, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii and the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.

The contractors association argued that the bill would increase costs and unnecessarily burden the construction industry, while the Hawaii Farm Bureau said it would add a “costly bureaucratic hurdle” to local food production.

So the Ala Wai will continue to build up with sediment, chemicals and other contaminants — at least for now.

“The Legislature dealt a huge blow to water quality improvement in the state,” Gill said.

Cleaning Up The Ala Wai Canal In Waikiki Is Complicated

Cleaning Up The Ala Wai Canal In Waikiki Is Complicated

 
 
 
Prior to the canal’s construction in the 1920s, extensive wetlands naturally cleansed the fresh water descending from streams in the Manoa, Palolo and Makiki valleys before it washed into the ocean off of Waikiki.

The canal destroyed this natural filtration system. And as urban growth exploded in the mid-20th century, the canal became a catch basin for all the pollution and trash from the the ridges and valleys that form the Ala Wai Watershed area.


[VIDEO] Part Two: Building The Ala Wai Included Design Flaw
 
Even before the canal was finished in 1928 engineers realized the design was seriously flawed. The eastern outlet was never built because they didn't want pollution being swept west past Waikiki Beach. The semi-closed system means the canal doesn’t regularly flush, so contaminants build up in the sediment and the water.

In 1929, Oahu had a population of about 200,000. Today, it’s nearly 1 million. Tens of thousands of cars and trucks travel through the Ala Wai watershed area daily, leaving behind heavy metals and chemicals that are washed into storm drains and into the canal when it rains.

Rain also flushes pesticides, pathogens, dead animals, debris and sewage into storm drains and streams leading into the canal. While the city is primarily responsible for keeping the streams clean, the situation is complicated by hundreds of property owners who own parts of the streams.

In 1998, the task force estimated that 1,500 truckloads of sediment a year were being washed into the canal — a rate that would turn the canal into a mass of muck in about 50 years if not dredged, the panel predicted.

Cleaning that contaminated sediment out the canal is an expensive proposition. So far, cleanup has been largely through dredging, with tons of contaminated sediments dumped offshore.

Still, the canal has only been partially dredged three times in its history — in 1967, 1978 and 2002.

The 1998 task force said it needed to be dredged every 10 years — a cost the group estimated to be $10 million each time.

But there are no current plans to dredge the canal again, according to Carty Chang, chief engineer at Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, which owns the canal and manages it.

Chang said that the department is waiting to see if dredging is part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal that is expected to recommend ways to redesign the canal to prevent flooding.

Fish Struggle to Breathe In Dangerously Polluted Waikiki Waters

 

Ala Wai Canal: Oversight Is As Murky As The Water

Ala Wai Canal: Oversight Is As Murky As The Water

 
 
 
 
 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

OAHU -Climate Change Risk Assessment - November 2011

OAHU -Climate Change Risk Assessment  - November 2011

http://www.oahumpo.org/climate_change/CC_Report_FINAL_Nov_2011.pdf

This report was funded in part through grants from the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
Why do Honolulu City and State of Hawaii planners IGNORE these studies? Their major infrastucture plans for airports and the major HART Commuter Rail completely disreguard these studies.
 

http://www.oahumpo.org/Climate%20Change%20Workshop%20Presentations.html

The following are the presentations given by climate scientists, engineers, and planners to the attendees at the start of the workshop.

Welcome and Introductions (144KB) by Brian Gibson, Executive Director, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization

Painting the Climate Science Picture (7MB) by Dr. Chip Fletcher, Associate Dean and Professor, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). A visual presentation emphasizing the science of global climate change, observed climate changes in Hawaii, and stressors likely to affect Oahu’s transportation infrastructure including:

Sea-level rise
Inundation
Wave overtopping
Drainage
Slope stability
Thinking of climate change as a affects multiplier

What if a Category Four Hurricane Came Onshore at Ewa? (827KB) by Dr. Kwok Fai Cheung, Professor, UH Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering. A visual presentation of the model showing a category four hurricane and related tidal surge on the south shore of Oahu; brief explanation of some of the impacts, e.g., flooding of airport and time to reopen, isolation of Sand Island, loss of harbor infrastructure, loss of 80% of housing, loss of power generation and oil refining capabilities and associated times to bring all back “on line.” Presentation touches on model assumptions and how it might change in light of higher sea-levels and/or if category four hurricanes were more common for Hawaii.

Urban Planning Challenges (61MB) by Dr. Karl Kim, Professor, UH Department of Urban and Regional Development. A visual presentation of work currently being done to integrate climate science and urban planning; challenges faced in terms of datasets and levels of uncertainty.

New Perspectives on Engineering Challenges (106KB) by Butch Wlaschin, PE, Director, Office of Asset Management, Office of Infrastructure, Federal Highway Administration. Looking at the “Big Picture” and taking the broadest view of engineering; understanding how the environmentally variable drivers will affect design decisions now and in the future.

Existing Problems (3MB) by Dolan Eversole, NOAA Coastal Storms Program Coordinator for the Pacific Region. Visual presentation on areas of Oahu that are currently experiencing affects of climate-related events on a regular basis, e.g., flooding in Mapunapuna and Campbell Industrial Park, affects of high waves on Kamehameha Highway on the north shore, rockfall at Makapuu, etc., as well as the impacts of historic events such as 2006 flooding, Hurricane Iniki, etc.

Climate Change Challenges and Social Impacts in Oceania (2MB) by Elizabeth E. Fischer, RLA, ASLA, APA, IAEM, USDOT Emergency Coordinator, Federal Highway Administration. A visual presentation of what is already happening to Pacific islands: Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Australia Council of State Governments report, etc.

Honolulu's Forgotten Karst History - Why Water Mains Explode

Honolulu's Forgotten Karst History -

Why City Water And Sewer Pipes Break And Explode?


Why do Honolulu water mains and sewer pipes constantly break
and below ground electric vaults explode?


I was walking with some friends in downtown Honolulu, near the State Capitol a couple of years ago, when a water main exploded directly in front of us, blowing the heavy manhole way up into the air followed by a geyser of water 15 feet high. The land under Honolulu is constantly awash in ground water, removing coral land fills and shifting water and sewer pipes.

In downtown Honolulu, when the new First Hawaiian Bank building was constructed, a truely massive amount of liquid concrete had to be injected for months into the foundation because of an huge underground Karst cave below the building.

The empty lot behind the old Honolulu Advertiser building had huge water problems for years, requiring very expensive "dewatering" before it could be made ready for construction.

Punahou School was built on the lands of Ka Punahou, named for the fabled natural spring discovered centuries ago under a hala tree. The spring still flows today under the Thurston Memorial Chapel, and its waters form the Lily Pond and are used to irrigate parts of the campus.

A street below Manoa Valley is named Artesian Street- named for the first artesian well dug in the area because of the large volume of ground water flowing through the area. They didn't have to dig far.

Waiola Street- Waiola which means "living water" - a running stream or spring. Below Waiola Street are running streams of water through the ancient coral reef.





Waikiki - Waikiki means “spouting water,” a reference to the Karst rivers and springs that flowed into the area creating hundreds of fishponds and rich taro fields. Look at very old photos of Waikiki, a large amount of it was under water.

Honolulu Rail will be elevated- but what about access to it with Sea Level Rise?

Honolulu Rail will be elevated- but what about

access to it with Sea Level Rise?

 
Will the roads and parking lots all be elevated too?

What about the sewer, water, electrical systems

– all elevated?


IF NOT- Honolulu better start designing a very different 50-100 year Honolulu Rail transit plan, because the current rail route will be underwater by then.
Why is HART and the City ignoring Sea Level Rise - And Waste Billions Of Dollars?
 
Sea Level Rise, Ground Subsidence and Hurricane Storm Surge will require nearly complete rebuild of Honolulu HART Rail Line and Stations located in well identified coastal disaster area.

Hawaii Politicians played a major role in corrupting government agencies to approve badly done archeological documents and to completely ignore the warnings of 13 Federal agencies that HART Rail route will be located in the wrong place once expected disaster hits.

*****************************************************************************************

Climate Change Sustainability & Asset Management News

Marie Venner – March 2011

Hawaii DOT – Oahu MPO Climate Change Adaptation Planning/Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Workshop

Oahu MPO, Hawaii DOT and associated scientists, other state and federal agencies, and cultural leaders conducted a climate change adaptation workshop in Honolulu on March 8-9, 2011. Hawaii has done a number of things that may be useful in other states. First, the
state’s leading scientists have put together a brief overview of the major implications of climate change for the state. It is glossy, has pictures of the state and effects from increasing storms, storm intensities, and rising sea levels. Local, state, and federal agencies
in Hawaii are clear about the need to prepare for climate change.

The state has already prepared a multi-hazard mitigation plan, under FEMA, with a section on climate change mitigation (read adaptation, in DOT-speak, which roughly matches to climate change mitigation, in FEMA terms). FEMA considers it a model for other states.

Oahu MPO Executive Director Brian Gibson pointed out,

"Knowing vulnerabilities now gives us more options for addressing those vulnerabilities in the future; otherwise options are more limited and more expensive."

********************************************************************

New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise,

Critics Warn *** September 10, 2012

NOTE: This was BEFORE Hurricane Sandy did EXACTLY as predicted...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/nyregion/new-york-faces-rising-seas-and-slow-city-action.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


But even as city officials earn high marks for environmental
awareness, critics say:

New York is moving too slowly to address the potential for flooding
that could paralyze transportation, cripple the low-lying financial
district and temporarily drive hundreds of thousands of people from
their homes. "They lack a sense of urgency about this," said Douglas
Hill, an engineer with the Storm Surge Research Group at Stony Brook
University, on Long Island.


************************************************************************

Circular No. 1165-2-211 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

INCORPORATING SEA-LEVEL CHANGE CONSIDERATIONS

IN CIVIL WORKS PROGRAMS

"Planning studies and engineering designs should consider alternatives that are
developed and assessed for the entire range of possible future rates
of sea-level change. These alternatives will include structural and
nonstructural solutions, or a combination of both. Evaluate
alternatives using "low," "intermediate," and "high" rates of future
sea-level change for both "with" and "without" project conditions."


**************************************************************************

Would the Federal government fund construction of a major airport
along the lowest levels of coastline known to be flooded in the
future? Would they build a runway where planes take off directly into
high rise buildings or a mountain?

Does it make any sense to spend Billions on a project that will have
to be ENTIRELY REBUILT in just a few decades- when the LOGICAL
MITIGATION is to MOVE the route out of known and expected future Sea
Level Rise (SLR) and Hurricane Storm Surge?

HART is charging ahead and completely and apparently WILLFULLY
IGNORANT of this BILLION dollar PLANNING FIASCO.

An important major service area of HART RAIL will be UNDER WATER,
including at least FIVE stations. This is a MASSIVE FRAUD of
incredibly bad "infrastructure planning" that will waste BILLIONS of
Federal and Oahu Tax-Payer money.

While the HART Rail is elevated, the entire planned public access and
service areas of the stations are NOT. Will we spend BILLIONS on
raised highways, parking lots, major sea water pumping stations,
concrete dams, etc.- just so the public can ACCESS the elevated HART
railway?

Assessment of groundwater inundation as a consequence of sea-level rise


Assessment of groundwater inundation as a

consequence of sea-level rise


Kolja Rotzoll & Charles H. Fletcher

Journal name: Nature Climate Change Volume: 3, Pages: 477–481Year
published: (2013)DOI:doi:10.1038/nclimate 1725 Received 29 June 2012
Accepted 20 September 2012 Published online 11 November 2012
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n5/full/nclimate1725.html

Strong evidence on climate change underscores the need for actions to reduce the impacts of sea-level rise. Global mean sea level may rise 0.18–0.48 m by mid-century1, 2 and 0.5–1.4 m by the end of the century.
Besides marine inundation, it is largely unrecognized that low-lying coastal areas may also be vulnerable to groundwater inundation, which is localized coastal-plain flooding due to a rise of
the groundwater table with sea level.
Measurements of the coastal groundwater elevation and tidal influence in urban Honolulu, Hawaii,
allow estimates of the mean water table, which was used to assess vulnerability to groundwater inundation from sea-level rise.
 
We find that 0.6 m of potential sea-level rise causes substantial flooding, and 1 m sea-level rise inundates 10% of a 1-km wide heavily urbanized coastal zone. The flooded area including groundwater inundation is more than twice the area of marine inundation alone.
This has consequences for decision-makers, resource managers and urban planners, and may be applicable to many low-lying coastal areas, especially where groundwater withdrawal is not substantial.
 
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/publications/Rotzoll%20Fletcher%20NCC%202012.pdf

And you thought Sea Level Rise was a big problem?

And you thought Sea Level Rise was a big problem?

 
by Dr. Kioni Dudley  --  Honolulu Star-Advertiser May 17, 2013
Yeah, sure. Global warming is a joke. Greenland, frozen for a millennium, is turning green again. For the first time in recorded history there is an unfrozen passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic at the north pole in the summertime. Glaciers across the globe are disappearing; some have completely melted. Frozen ice shelves--one larger than Delaware--have warmed and fallen off of Antarctica. Oceans are warming dramatically, even to their deepest regions. The low lying island nation of Tuvalu is one foot from being covered with water and is asking Australia to let its 10,000
people move there as an independent nation. Yet none of these realities is a really valid sign that global warming is actually happening, right?

Wrong. Most of the people in the world today accept that climate change is a reality. The European Union, China, and Japan are all aggressively dealing with it. Why is our City producing county and regional plans that assiduously ignore it?

Within the lifetimes of current young adults and children, rising seas will erode our beaches, and flood low-lying streets and roads around the island. By the latter part of this century, portions of Waikiki, Mo'ili'ili, Ala Moana, and Kaka'ako will stand in sea water at high tide. Key thoroughfares
and intersections in urban Honolulu and around the island will be below sea-level. (See map below)


But Sea Level Rise is just the start of our problems.

A research paper by UH professors Kolja Rotzoll and Charles "Chip" Fletcher in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Climate Change discusses another hidden, unexpected, and potentially more massive problem: groundwater inundation. (See Pg. 3 at
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/publications/Rotzoll%20Fletcher%20NCC%202012.pdf

The coastal plains of each island, created by lava flows and ancient coral reefs and then covered by layers of sediment, are a massive array of porous geology. In low-lying areas, the water table (the sub-surface level below which the ground is completely saturated with water) lies just below the
surface. There, fresh water, which has seeped down, floats atop salt water which has worked its way in from the ocean. This salt water, which is generally at the same height as sea level, rises and falls with the tides.

As the sea level rises in the future, it will cause this salt water to also rise permanently, pushing the fresh water above it up through the ground. Once the water pushes up above the surface, it will have nowhere to go, and will just sit there. Rain will add to the problem. As the accompanying map
shows, groundwater flooding will put far greater parts of Waikiki, Mo'ili'ili, Ala Moana, permanently under water, along with much of Kaka'ako where the 700 foot high rises are planned. Low-lying areas in Leeward, and in numerous other places around the whole island will also be flooded. This groundwater inundation will begin to be a problem before mid-century and will continue to grow and spread as the seas rise, for centuries to come. Being inland groundwater, pushed up through the land surface, it cannot be stopped by dikes.

In light of all of this, does it make sense to build skyscrapers in the Kaka'ako floodlands? Should we really construct more buildings in Waikiki? Is it logical to build a rail line from Kapolei to Ala Moana, if much of the route, and all of the Ala Moana area, lie deep in the future flood zone? Are we currently set to spend billions on rail, sewers, water mains, and roads, that need to be re-directed in the future?

There are other devastating facets to climate change. Changes in sea temperature are also affecting fish, causing those that thrive in cool water to move north. Meanwhile, acidification from carbon dioxide is imperiling reefs, and also plankton, a crucial food source for fish. These changes are
disrupting the whole food chain in the ocean, as well as our food supply.

Wind patterns are changing. Over the last forty years, we have gone from 291 days of trade-winds, which bring clean air and rain, to 210 a year. Vog, all but unknown on O'ahu until the last few years, will become much more common.

With trade wind loss, rainfall has decreased in recent decades. Experts predict a continuing trend of declining rain, and an increase in frequency of drought. Rain is the only way to replenish our aquifers. With far less rainfall seeping down, there will eventually be far less to drink, and to
irrigate crops. Experts warn us to not expect that desalination will save us. It is far too expensive and greatly pollutes the environment.

The first concern in the old O'ahu General Plan was the need to control population growth. Given our projected future, is it moral to invite, and build homes for, unsuspecting malihini, as we are now doing? Is it wise to keep expanding tourism? Is it fair to our own descendants to bring in more
people who will draw down their declining supply of drinking water?

Worldwide, costs to accommodate sea rise will push up prices on everything, making imports, including food, far more expensive. We will need to grow much more, if not all, of our own food. Isn't it suicidal to sacrifice today's highest producing farmlands for unnecessary housing projects?

We will also need to save vast tracts of open space for possible farming of bio-fuels. And we must begin to manufacture many of our essentials

Where are the county plans to guide all of this?

In 2012, the State legislature passed Act 286, which directed that all county general plans (like the O'ahu General Plan) and county development plans (like the 'Ewa Development Plan) must engage in focused research to produce models of future climate changes and their impacts, and must include in the plans steps to address those impacts. That is not happening.

Developers, construction unions, banks, landowners, and others who profit directly from development have enough friends in the right places that, instead of addressing climate change, the City is moving to get as much anticipated development through the approval gate as possible, before the populace wakes up.

It's time to stop all County plan approvals, to take all the plans back to the drawing boards, and to spend the necessary time to really study the intermediate and long-term ramifications of sea level rise and groundwater inundation for the whole island, and to work out steps to address them, as
Act 286--state law--requires.

(For greater understanding of the problems discussed here, see the site "Sea
Level Rise Hawaii," created by UH Professor Chip Fletcher at:

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/coasts/sealevel.)

Massive Pollution Floods Predicted For Future Waikiki


Massive Pollution Floods Predicted For Future Waikiki

Historic Photo Show Here:

 
The Ala Wai canal development destroyed vital wetlands and productive tropical agriculture, including farms and fish ponds that had sustained Native Hawaiians for decades. The wetlands, fed by the streams running down from Makiki, Manoa and Palolo, filtered trash and sediment and kept Wakiki’s storied beaches sparkling.
Over the decades, all sorts of pollution — pesticides, heavy metals, sediments and even raw sewage — has flowed into the canal. As Honolulu's upstream population mushroomed, contamination in the canal has steadily increased and over the years levels of pollution have tested well above limits considered safe. One local man died from bacterial infections he picked up after falling in the water.
Now, federal flood control experts are worried that a heavy rain could cause the Ala Wai to overflow its sides, creating a fast-moving flood big enough to wipe out Waikiki. They say a major rainstorm and serious flood could put the area from Diamond Head to Ala Moana all the way up to Moiliili under five feet of water. The consequences of such destruction are enormous.
For years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along with state and city officials have been struggling to put in place measures that would prevent disaster. Significant dredging, a deeper channel, a wider McCully bridge, even walls along the canal are being considered.
Derek Chow, chief of the civil and public works branch at the Corps of Engineers in Honolulu, has been one of those studying the Ala Wai Canal for years.
 
He doesn't mince words when it comes to the potential risk to the area he recognizes as "the main economic engine of Hawaii." He talks earnestly about what could be immense property damage and loss of life from a major swiftly moving flood.
The speed of the water would knock you down, he said in a recent interview with Civil Beat that included about a dozen federal, state and city officials sitting around a conference table at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to describe their combined efforts to address the situation.
Major rainstorms in 1965 and 1967 sent water overtopping the canal’s banks, stranding cars and forcing pedestrians to wade through hub-cap-deep flows on Ala Wai Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue.
Mud and sediment from the poorly flushed canal built up in the waterway, leaving some areas only a few inches deep. The state dredged the sediment in 1967, dumping it with all its contaminants into the ocean.
A 1976 report from the Department of Health warned that the canal water regularly violated fecal coliform counts — an indicator that high levels of bacteria persisted in the waterway.
The canal was also filling up with muck again. The DLNR dredged it for a second time in 1978. The rotten-egg odor that came out of the muck — caused by the lack of oxygen in the water — is something that residents still complain about.
In 1983, a power outage disabled the city’s sewage pumps and officials simply dumped 2.5 million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal. Signs were posted — “Warning Polluted Water” — but area residents, by now accustomed to the idea that the water was polluted, didn’t take much notice.
People continued to fish and crab in the canal and canoe clubs held practices — until they realized that they were paddling through brown, smelly water.
In 1991, the Department of Health posted signs warning residents not to swim in the canal. Tests on fish and crabs turned up dangerous levels of lead, prompting additional warnings not to eat out of the canal.
As awareness about the pollution mounted, government officials found themselves under increasing pressure to clean up the canal. Dozens of studies were done and a major community task force pressed into service.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funneled a couple million dollars to community groups for cleanup efforts.
If there were any doubts about the serious situation surrounding the Ala Wai, they were laid to rest in 2006. A broken pipe sent raw sewage flowing onto the streets of Waikiki. Then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann decided to dump 48 million gallons of sewage into the Ala Wai Canal to stop the smelly mess from backing up into hotels, homes and businesses.
Oliver Johnson, a 34-year old Honolulu resident, fell into the Ala Wai Boat Harbor about a week after city officials began dumping the sewage into the canal. A massive bacterial infection claimed his life a few days later.
Contamination won't get better until the state and city do something about upstream pollution. That means a politically difficult community discussion is in order — cracking down on property owners, big and small, who are major sources of trash, waste and chemicals that run down into the canal every time it rains.
"The Ala Wai is an urban sink," says Gary Gill, deputy director for environmental health at the Hawaii Department of Health. He tried — unsuccessfully — to get the Legislature to do something about runoff this past session.
"So everything that washes off the land sits in there. And because we don't have high tides in Hawaii, it doesn't flush."
Despite the fact that the Ala Wai repeatedly falls far short of meeting state safety standards for recreational use, there is no move to prohibit paddling or recreation.
“In the 1990s, the Ala Wai got a lot of attention and a ton of money,” said Robert Harris, executive director of the Hawaii Sierra Club, which also has not pursued environmental cleanup of the canal as actively as it once did. “Now, a lot of that money and attention has faded away.”
VIDEO HERE:
http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2013/05/20/19079-video-canal-builders-didnt-look-to-the-future/

 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Is Honolulu Ready for their Karst ground water Future?

 
Honolulu ISN'T AT ALL READY for the Karst Future
 
Aloha Mayor Caldwell,
 
See attached studies showing sea level rise in downtown Honolulu.
This actually closely approximates much of the natural ground water
streams and springs of the original shoreline Karst before the city of
Honolulu was built- back when it was known as Kou.
 
Why do Honolulu water mains and sewer pipes constantly break and
below ground electric vaults explode? Could it be because they are
constantly being corroded by brackish ground water?
 
I was walking with some friends in downtown Honolulu, near the State
Capitol a couple of years ago, when a water main exploded directly in
front of us, blowing the heavy manhole way up into the air followed by
a geyser of water 15 feet high. The land under Honolulu is constantly
awash in brackish ground water, removing the old coral land fills and
shifting water and sewer pipes until they break.
 
In downtown Honolulu, when the new First Hawaiian Bank building was
constructed, a truly massive amount of liquid concrete had to be injected
into the ground for months, into the sub foundation, because of a huge
underground Karst cave below the building.
 
The empty lot behind the old Honolulu Advertiser building had huge
water problems for many years, requiring very expensive "dewatering" before
it could be made ready for construction. That's because it was the site of
an ancient karst water pond.
 
Punahou School was built on the lands of Ka Punahou, named for the
fabled natural spring discovered centuries ago under a hala tree. The
spring still flows today under the Thurston Memorial Chapel, and its waters
form the Lily Pond and are used to irrigate parts of the campus. Ask local
boy Barry Obama, I bet he remembers the pond on the Punahou campus.
 
And then there are the big Karst water caves of Moiliili- which is the
subject of a separate post...
 
A street below Manoa Valley is named Artesian Street- named for the
first artesian well dug in the area because of the large volume of
ground water flowing through the area. They didn't have to dig far.
 
Waiola Street- Waiola which means "living water" - a running stream or
spring. Below Waiola Street are running streams of water through the
ancient coral reef.

Waikiki - Waikiki means “spouting water,” a reference to the Karst
rivers and springs that flowed into the area creating hundreds of
fishponds and rich taro fields. Look at very old photos of Waikiki, a
large amount of it was under water.
 
Oahu Karst is a massive, sponge-like, swiss cheese of caverns and
water channels under much of Honolulu's makai areas. The vast majority
of the Ewa Plain is Karst.
 
It will be "all about The Karst" in the future, and the costs will be MANY,
MANY BILLIONS and the City and County of Honolulu isn't at all ready for it.