Major Ala Wai dredging section completed early
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
When Alfred Tagupa takes his daily walk along the Ala Wai Canal and sees the barge-mounted crane and hydraulic clam basket move along the waterway, scooping out debris and sediment as part of the state's $7.4 million dredging project, he remembers what it used to be like in old Waikiki.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Tagupa, 78, said the spot where the dump scows are being filled, at the mouth of the Manoa-Palolo drainage canal, was a popular spot to dig for clams, catch crabs and fish in the late 1940s.
American Marine Corp. removes sediment and dredges the Ala Wai Canal near the intersection with Lewers Street. With two smaller sections left to do, the whole project could be completed by next month, the project manager said.
"There were lots of people digging clams," Tagupa said. "It was a nice thing to see those people with their fishing poles."
Although he would never eat anything caught in the Ala Wai today for fear of pollutants, Tagupa said he is happy the dredging project is making the canal water cleaner and better for recreational activities.
The second, largest phase of the dredging project — from the McCully Street bridge to 600 feet beyond the Manoa-Palolo drainage canal — will be completed this week, slightly ahead of schedule, according to project manager Neil Williams. The entire project could be completed as early as next month, he said.
The work, which began Aug. 22, aims to clear more than two decades of sediment and debris that have left the canal only inches deep in sections. American Marine Corp. won the contract to remove 170,000 cubic yards of sediment and dredge the 2-mile canal to a depth of 6 to 12 feet.
Work remains in only two areas. Dredging of one will begin next week and take the bottom of the drainage canal to about 10 feet deep near the Ala Wai, tapering to about 4 feet deep near the Date Street bridge, according to Williams.
Andrew Monden, chief of the Project Planning and Management Branch of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Engineering Division, said 705 dump scows had carried 190,690 cubic yards of sediment to a federally approved ocean dumping site 3.8 miles off the airport as of April 11 — well beyond pre-dredging estimates.
The contractor is still waiting for a solid-waste management permit from the state Department of Health before work can begin on the last phase, at the Kapahulu Avenue end of the canal, Monden said.
A public meeting will be scheduled to discuss that portion of the project, where an estimated 1,825 cubic yards of sediment is expected to contain pollutants including chlordane. The dredged material will be taken to a disposal site at the airport's reef runway for treatment. Chlordane was Hawai'i's termite ground treatment of choice until it was banned for commercial use in 1988.
The plan, approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, is to take the dredged material to a lined pit at the airport, dry it and mix it with a cement binder. It would then serve as structural fill at the airport.
Monden said the project has moved along smoothly, with few complaints about noise, odor or use of the canal. American Marine is using a silt curtain to contain the sediment, and leaving a path along one side of the canal for canoe paddlers to pass safely.
"It's been a real good project for everybody," Williams said. "From our standpoint, everybody has been cooperative and tried to let us do our job. And similarly, we've tried to stay out of everybody's way, and with the exception of a few times, I think we've done that."
