Public officials and concerned citizens toured facilities on Oahu yesterday that use bioremediation to gain information on the procedure as a possible alternative for disposing of sediment from Ala Wai Harbor. Concerned citizens
get dredging lessonSpurred by the plan to clear
Ala Wai Harbor, residents saw
another way to clear sedimentBy Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.comBioremediation is a process by which plants are used to clean toxins from soil or water.
The dredging of sediment from the harbor is expected to begin in the last quarter of the year, said Janet Kawelo, deputy director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Yesterday's bus tour was organized by state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland (D, Palama-Alewa Heights) in response to her constituents' concerns about where the dredge material is going and whether it is safe.
The department plans had called for disposing of the majority of the Ala Wai silt (167,812 cubic yards) at an Environmental Protection Agency site about three miles out to sea.
An additional 18,515 cubic yards with pesticide or lead residues was to be bound with cement to stabilize it for use as landfill material on the outer reef runway of Honolulu Airport.
Chun Oakland, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, previously has said that alternatives to the plan should be considered.
Kawelo said it is her understanding that Chun Oakland hopes to gather city, state and federal officials in the next few weeks to see if Ala Wai dredge material could be stored while testing is done to determine whether bioremediation would work on it.
"Our primary concern is to dredge the canal," Kawelo said. "If you could store it (the sediment) for later bioremediation, that would be great."
According to several of the 50 or so participants, the bus tour stopped at:
>> Pearl Harbor, where Navy officials explained how they handle harbor dredge materials and alternatives they are investigating.
>> A Dole Food Co. project near Wahiawa that is treating about 50,000 gallons per day of sewage with a "constructed wetland" on an experimental basis.
>> A Del Monte phytoremediation project that uses two "cells" of hundreds of hale koa trees to filter out the pesticide ethyl dibromide from polluted well water.
City & County of Honolulu