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Ala Wai dredging may
begin this summer

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By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

The Ala Wai Canal dredging project is back.

Many hanging out in and around the canal yesterday said it's about time the Board of Land and Natural Resources takes up the issue, which it is scheduled to do Friday.

The much-delayed dredging could begin as early as this summer if the Land Board approves a bid submitted last June by American Marine Corp.

"It needs it, bad," said paddler Butch Kamisa, 53. "We've been waiting for years." Kamisa said he has been paddling in the canal for about 20 years, soon after the canal was last partially dredged in 1978. It has needed to be redredged for 10 to 15 years, he said.

"At low tide, it's like 6 inches deep," he said, describing how canoes crowd into one 6-foot-deep lane of the canal that runs only from the McCully Street bridge to the Manoa Palolo Drainage Canal near Iolani School. "You've got four canoes going up and four canoes coming down, and someone's got to give," he said.

The entire canal will be dredged to a depth of 10 feet, according to Andrew Monden, the state Land Division's chief engineer. American Marine Corp. has submitted a bid to complete the project for $7.44 million, well under the state's $10.35 million budget, although a six-month delay caused by a bid protest in June could mean the bid will need to be revised, Monden said.

"We still have to negotiate with the contractor due to the delay of the award of the contract," he said.

The low bid comes from being able to dispose most of the dredged material into the ocean, rather than using the more expensive land disposal method originally projected.

A site about three miles south of the airport Reef Runway has been designated for ocean disposal of all but 2 percent of the dredged sediment. The remainder, contaminated by chemical and organic materials, would be used as fill for the runway.

Some were concerned about the ocean disposal method and questioned how the state had determined what part of the canal was contaminated.

"You know it's toxic," said Zina Nagamine of Kalihi Valley, who was at the canal yesterday while her daughter paddled with her high school team. "Kids get little cuts, and they get infections," she said.

While she's glad the state is making the effort to dredge the canal, "they're never going to get it completely cleaned," she said.

Nathan Martin, 62, who lives on Lauiki Street near the canal, was concerned about who would be monitoring the water quality. He said he's concerned about runoff from mountain streams that run through residential areas and feed into the canal. "Kids get into the water, and you don't know what's in it," he said.

The project was originally scheduled to begin last fall, but a bid protest submitted June 30 by RCI Environmental Inc. delayed the process.