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.
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.
