Canal cleaner for $219,000 a problem from start
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Not only has Hawai'i had headaches with a $156,000 pothole patcher that's never worked, but a $219,000 apparatus purchased to clean the Ala Wai Canal more than a decade ago has had a history of problems.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Mog was purchased in 1991 to remove debris from state waterways, principally the Ala Wai Canal. But soon after, officials realized that they didn't have the right civil service job classification to operate it because it's a hybrid piece of floating heavy equipment, said David Parsons of the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. Getting the right classification took two years.
The idled Mog sits in a storage yard at Shafter Flats.
The Mog also was too big to fit under the two bridges spanning the Ala Wai Canal at Ala Moana Boulevard and McCully Street except during low tide, said Deborah Ward, public information officer of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
When it was brought into the canal, it couldn't perform in water more than 8 feet deep because the arms couldn't touch bottom, making it unsafe to operate. The state was able to use the Mog to clean debris from Ke'ehi Lagoon and that covered its price, Ward said. The Mog is in storage now and there's no money in the budget to operate it, Parsons and Ward said. The state plans to offer it "to any agency that can put it to good use."
Could it be used to clean Lake Wilson, infested by the Salvinia molesta plant? Not so far, because of questions about whether it can move in an area that has almost its entire surface covered, though it may be used in narrow tributaries that are difficult to reach.
