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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 4, 2005

EDITORIAL
Public-private pairing can aid water quality

Encouraging steps are being taken toward improving the safety of water recreation — and it's the cooperation of government with the private sector in this mission that's the most welcome news of all.

Most recently, state health officials announced a new federal grant that will allot $324,000 for water quality checks at more than 100 shoreline sites statewide. And at the often disparaged Ala Wai Canal, the quality of the water itself is likely to benefit from treatment in an innovative project that uses the natural processes of a floating raft of plants to extract pollutants.

The state Department of Health, frequently targeted by watchdog groups for conducting insufficient testing, deserves credit for improving on that record, and for showing initiative in securing the grant. And while working to publish test results on its own site, the department partnered with the Surfrider Foundation on O'ahu, to post the data online (www.surfrider.org/oahu/enterodata.htm).

The public-private alliance produced another success story in the piloting of the Ala Wai "phytoremediation platform," that leafy, floating water purifier. Natural Systems Inc. gained a $500,000 federal grant and permits from the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for the project.

This bodes well for surfers, paddlers, swimmers and anyone else who plays at our beaches. In the Islands, enjoyment of the sea is something to cherish rather than sacrifice, especially when a collaborative spirit is there to sustain it.