Salt Lake stream may finally lose its stink
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
The sulfuric stench of the Salt Lake Waterway on some days has been compared to that of the Ala Wai Canal. Now, after nearly 30 years of requests from area residents, the city is moving ahead with plans to dredge the Salt Lake Waterway.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The city has awarded a contract to RI Namba Construction Inc. for the first phase of cleanup along the Ala Napunani Street portion of the stream, running about 3,200 yards. Work is scheduled to begin within two months.
Ellen Uyehara attends to her grandson Zachary Brunn outside her home on Ala Napunani. Her back yard is next to the waterway, which she said smells like rotten eggs or dirty diapers.
City officials said availability of federal money will eventually determine when the rest of the waterway is to be dredged.
"If the city is going ahead with it, that's good news. But I'll believe it when I see it," said longtime resident Ellen Uyehara, who has been pushing government officials since 1974 to look into the problem.
Originally built as a drainage basin for surrounding neighborhoods, Salt Lake Waterway has grown stagnant as debris and overgrown vegetation formed dams and clogged the basin. The waterway has only one outlet, to Moanalua Stream.
Overflowing wastewater from Aliamanu Military Reservation during heavy rains, plus runoff from 17 city storm drains that brings gravel, grease and other debris into the waterway, only adds to the problem, Uyehara said.
"The rains bring all the items, but the smell gets really bad on hot days when there's no wind," she said. "Some days it smells like rotten eggs, and other days it smells like dirty diapers."
City Councilman Romy Cachola, who last year introduced a resolution to get all parties together on the issue, said he hopes the federal government can pay for the bulk of the cleanup. Of the estimated $11 million cost, the city has committed $2.9 million and the state an additional $1 million.
Watson Okubo of the state Health Department's Clean Water Branch said the problem is primarily aesthetic, though it could become a health problem eventually.
"Some people sensitive to the sulfuric smell coming from the water may get a reaction," Okubo said.
Timothy Steinberger, City Department of Environmental Services director, said the first phase of the cleanup will concentrate on a portion of the waterway closest to an underground drain that leads to Moanalua Stream, which runs to Keehi Lagoon.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Steinberger said a $97,000 grant from the state Department of Health will go toward buying plants that will remove nutrients in the waterway feeding the unwanted vegetation.
The city will begin dredging the stream near Ala Napunani, where sewage from Aliamanu gets pumped in near homes.
Cachola said another problem is that people dump trash into the waterway. Items recovered in previous cleanups have included kitchen sinks, stoves, shopping carts and bowling balls.
"We can do all this cleaning up, but it won't matter unless people start taking responsibility of the area," Cachola said.
Okubo yesterday took a class from Salt Lake Elementary School to view the area as part of a program to educate students about the environment.
"The children said they learned a lot on the field trip, but they were holding their noses the whole time," he said.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
