The money spent on trying to solve
By Craig Gima
the algae problem in the reflecting pools
of the state Capitol continues to increase
-- and so, too, does the algae
Star-BulletinTHIS is a story about muck, muck raking and money at the state Capitol.
The muck is the algae that grows in the two reflecting pools around the Capitol building. The money -- $74,100 a year or about $180,000 since June 1996 -- is what the state pays in a losing battle to keep the pools muck-free.
The contracts to clean the pools and for a machine that is supposed to help kill the algae are more than double the $31,000 a year that the state paid when algae-eating tilapia lived in the pools before the Capitol's $67 million renovation in 1993.
Not replacing the fish was supposed to save the state thousands of dollars because it would be cheaper to clean the pools without them. At least that's what state officials told the Star-Bulletin in 1996 when the renovation was completed.
The state Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS), in charge of caring for the Capitol, also said it could not return the fish into the pools. That's because federal and city laws require a special permit to dump water containing fish manure into storm drains which lead into the ocean.
While fish are not allowed under the state's current environmental permit, the state is allowed to use chemicals to kill algae and to discharge water containing the chemicals and algae into the storm drains, said Denis Lau, chief of the state Health Department's Clean Water branch.
Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai) said the handling of the algae problem in a building that's a state symbol is a reflection of what's wrong with state government.
"The idea of having the fish in the reflecting pools was very educational for school children and visitors. Maybe this is educational also because it shows how many things can't be done in this state," Slom said.
"The expenditure of public funds is increasing geometrically, but we're not getting an adequate solution to the problem."
The biggest increase in the cost to clean the pools is a $3,333 monthly contract for two machines called mixed-oxidant generators, located in the Capitol's basement.
The machines take water and salt and "through a patented electro-cell process, it generates mixed oxidants," said Wayne Kaneshiro of Imperial Sales, Inc., the company contracted to lease the machines to the state and clean the pools.
Kaneshiro said the machine produces chlorine dioxide, ozone and radical oxygen which can help control the algae. "It does not kill the algae so much as we're trying to slow its growth down," he said.
Kaneshiro said the machines were developed to control algae in air-conditioning systems, but are now being used on ponds at California golf courses as well as at the Capitol.
Kaneshiro said he originally wanted to bid on a contract for an air-conditioning cooling tower at the airport, when a state official told him he should show the device at the Capitol.
He said he set up the device for a two-month trial and officials with DAGS liked what they saw.
"If you'll notice, the water is not green like it was in the past," and does not smell like it once did, said Steven Fernandes, head of DAGS' Central Services Division.
Wearing rubber boots and using a machine resembling a vacuum cleaner, Jovido Davila spends several days a week scraping and vacuuming algae in the pools.
You can see occasional patches of algae-free floor, but brown algae clings to most of the bottom and sides of both pools. Occasionally, a white foam will form on top of the pool surface.
"Algae has endless growability," Davila said. "It is sometimes hard to take off algae on the floor."
Algae and the smell of decaying algae has been a problem at the reflecting pools since the Capitol was completed in 1969. The water comes from brackish water wells under the grounds.
"Brackish water contains a great deal of inorganic plant nutrients," said Paul Jokiel, a researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. "You're pumping up brackish water with a lot of fertilizer in it so the result is going to be an algae bloom."
Kaneshiro said brackish water is only part of what he called "a ton of challenges" to do a good job of cleaning the Capitol pools. "I would just feel better if they would take a look at better circulation of the water," he said.
Fernandes said the state's discharge permit does not allow the state to run the fountains in the pool that might help circulate the water.
Kaneshiro said his machines were originally designed for air conditioning cooling towers that do not use brackish water and the amount of water in the pools -- 434,200 gallons in each of the two pools -- also contributes to the challenge.
Over the years, efforts to deal with the problem have all been unsuccessful.
The most memorable effort to clean the algae was the introduction of tilapia into the pools to eat the algae.
But the tilapia also created problems because the droppings also created nutrients that helped algae grow and contributed to the smell, Fernandes said.
The tilapia also were an embarrassment to the state during the 1993 Capitol renovation, when the state drained the pools without removing the fish. Thousands of fish died, creating a big stink in more ways than one.
The Hawaiian Humane Society threatened to fine the state for cruelty to animals if it continued to kill the fish, so the surviving tilapia were taken to Paradise Park and released into ponds there.
The state also paid for a study of the pool problem in 1983.
The consultant, Architects Hawaii, recommended that the best solution would be for the state to spend $572,230 to clean and renovate the pools and convert them to fresh water.
By Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Tilapia fish were introduced into the reflecting
pools in an effort to clear up the algae problem.
TILAPIA were introduced to the reflecting pool on the Senate side of the Capitol in 1976, when then-state Sen. Anson Chong and Senate staffer Al Konishi decided to see if the fish really would eat the algae in the pool. Tilapia: A
democratic solutionFormer state Rep. James Shigemura is credited with introducing a dozen or so tilapia in the House side of the pools. Chong said he thinks House members actually put the tilapia in before the Senate.
As Health Committee chairman, Chong had held hearings on the issue and the Senate passed a resolution asking for a tilapia study after the pools got particularly dirty and smelly. Rather than wait for the study, Chong and Konishi tossed three fish into the pool.
"Within three or four months those fish actually cleared out the algae, you could see them eating it," Chong said.
"If they allowed the tilapia to munch the algae and so-called 'process' it for the vacuum cleaners, then that would be a solution," Konishi said.
Konishi said he believes tilapia have democratic value.
"When all else fails, turn to the working man's fish," Konishi said. "The lowly tilapia will make it as a big hero so we thought that it was a good idea."
Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
FORGET the fish. Maybe the best way to do away with the algae problem in the Capitol's reflecting pools is to drain the water completely. Senator's solution
is to nix the fishThat's what state Sen. Rod Tam says.
"I'm going to recommend through a resolution or a bill that we replace the water with imaginary water. Put imaginary water and basically what we do is have some kind of garden of ethnic cultures here in Hawaii," he said.
"The garden will emphasize ethnic cultures, a land where different cultures get along with each other as compared to other states."
Tam is chairman of the Government Operations Committee that oversees the Capitol.
"Water has been a problem constantly," said Tam, who called it "ridiculous" that the state pays $74,100 a year to clean the pools.
He said he does not know the cost of putting one in, but said a multicultural garden would be "a thing of beauty here" and would help promote tourism in Hawaii.
Craig Gima, Star-Bulletin
By Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin
The Blaisdell Center pond's water comes from a well
under the Blaisdell. The pools have a combination of
algae-eating fish and predator fish to help control
both those populations.
Cleaner waters
Blaisdell Center gets better results
By Craig Gima
with one-tenth of the expense
Star-BulletinJUST down the street from the state Capitol, the city pays less than one-tenth what the state does to clean its brackish water pools at the Blaisdell Center.
The city contract to clean its pools is $7,200 a year. The contractor, "A" Rated Kitchens, cleans the pools once a month.
The pools' water comes from a well under the Blaisdell. The pools have a combination of algae-eating fish and predator fish to help control both those populations.
When he first came to the Blaisdell eight years ago, said auditoriums maintenance and operations superintendent Jay Wilkinson, the ponds were dirty and the tilapia population was out of control. "If you looked in the water at that time, you would not be able to see the bottom."
Wilkinson said the city embarked on an aggressive cleaning program, then consulted with the Oceanic Institute and the University of Hawaii to get the right combination of fish to best manage the pools.
"What we have down here is a balanced environment," he said. The use of the fish also means the city does not have to use chemicals to control algae.
Edward Laws, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said the state should also be able to stock the Capitol pools with a mixture of fish and other marine organisms and control the algae problem for a fraction of the yearly $74,100 it now pays.
"It would probably cost 10 percent of that," he said. "Somebody who knows what he's doing with the right mix of organisms would do the job."
But John Corbin, manager of the state's Aquaculture Development Program, said the pools are exposed to a lot of sunlight that can promote algae growth and the size of the pools -- 38,700 square feet -- may make it difficult to achieve the right balance of fish and other algae-eating organisms.
"(The pools) are so huge," Corbin said. "So it's not an easy thing to do, particularly the way the pools are laid out. It's shallow. The species mix and managing the species mix would not be an easy thing."
Steven Fernandes, head of the Central Services Division of the state Department of Accounting and General Services, believes the pools are much cleaner without fish. He said the fish created an odor problem and made it more difficult to clean the pools.
Fernandes also said the state cannot put fish back into the pool without getting special permits to discharge the pool water into the storm drains.
Unlike the state, the city has a permit to discharge its water into Kewalo Basin.
Patrick Johnston, a state Health Department spokesman, said the state would need a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to dump water containing fish droppings into the city storm-drain system which leads to the ocean.
"Storm drains are for storm water and therefore, if they think this water that's going in there has more than just storm water, there are other issues that should be dealt with," he said.
Johnston said an excess of nutrients going into streams or the ocean could create an algae bloom or affect the ocean's ecology in other ways.
However, new Health Department Director Bruce Anderson said it probably would not be a problem for the state to get the permit -- the Department of Accounting and General Services has never applied for it.
"If it goes into the harbor, certainly there are other streams with lots of tilapia," he said. "I can't see any serious problem associated with the discharge. We'd look favorably on it."
