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

 

http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2013/05/22/19076-ala-wai-canal-if-it-makes-you-sick-why-not-shut-down-public-access/

 

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.