Ala Wai boaters wait for state to clear storm debris

Les Parson should have a premium ocean view. His 36-foot Cascade is moored at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, the state’s premier recreational harbor.

But this week empty milk cartons, oil cans, felt-tip pens, logs, decaying food, coconut, palm fronds and other waste encompassed his visible horizon.

“When I look out my window, I can’t even see the water,” Parsons said. “I’m concerned. It’s a public health hazard. It’s been six days and every day it gets worse. It’s a stinking mess.”

The debris clogging the harbor is another consequence of the devastating storms that struck the state last weekend. To be sure, trash in a harbor is a minor issue compared with the flooding of homes and roads on Kauai and Oahu. Still, it’s a mess that needs to be cleaned up and a warning to keep watersheds clear of debris.

Parsons said he and other slip renters have complained to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) about the storm debris.

DLNR spokesman Dan Dennison said DOBOR has already had the trap at the mouth of the canal cleaned. He said other cleanup work was put to bid, but estimates came back “extraordinarily high,” so the agency will seek additional bids early next week.

“We’re working as quickly as possible to effect a cleanup in the inner harbor but want to do it at the lowest cost possible,” Dennison said.

Though removal is the state’s responsibility, Parsons said several slip renters have begun cleaning the area themselves.

“A woman was using a boat hook to catch the debris and pile it up on the pier,” Parsons said. “Another neighbor walked by and said, ‘That’s like trying to clean up a landslide with a teaspoon.’”

Bruce Baxter, who resides at the Ala Wai harbor, said DOBOR needs to swiftly address this latest pileup and begin considering longer-­term solutions.

“It happens at least once every single year. Everyone in the harbor is affected by it,” Baxter said.

Dennison said part of the problem is that “trash and rubbish either dumped or washed into the Ala Wai Canal anywhere upstream is ultimately going to end up in the harbor or in the ocean.”

“This storm, like other heavy rains, brings all of that accumulated rubbish into the canal, so it happens regularly when there are big storms,” he said.

There’s no easy solution. Hawaii has spent more than 20 years trying to improve the Ala Wai watershed, a 19-square-mile area that collects water from rivers and streams that run through Oahu, from the Koolau Mountains to Mamala Bay.

Risk experts have warned lawmakers that if a Category 4 hurricane were to hit Oahu, damage to Waikiki alone could cost $30 billion, in part because of the watershed’s current state. A 100-year flood in the watershed could cost an estimated $318 million in damage, they said.

Dennison said operations at the state’s small-boat harbors rely entirely on fees paid by boaters/users, and that money isn’t appropriated specifically for cleaning marine debris.

DOBOR is “seeking funding again for this purpose as well as to assist with marine debris removal in other coastal areas under its jurisdiction,” he said.

Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana, the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s director of Hawaiian cultural affairs, said the state agency has earmarked some environmental sustainability funds for the Ala Wai Watershed Collaboration to seed efforts to set up a commu­nity-based Ala Wai Improvement District.

The collaboration intends to sort through about a half-dozen watershed and canal restoration proposals. There’s a flood mitigation proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers for the Ala Wai Canal, which aims to reduce 100-year-flood risks at the man-made waterway. But some stakeholders favor placing more emphasis on other options, including volunteer cleanups.

“People create the rubbish that ends up in the water, so this is a good reminder for everyone to properly dispose of their trash, lawn and yard waste and all other rubbish,” Dennison said.

Kayla Stone, who works as a first mate at the harbor, said that’s why cleanup efforts also should focus on litter prevention for people up in the mountains, where the Ala Wai watershed starts.

“There need(s) to be more litter restrictions and cleanup crews,” Stone said. “Tourists come here and have a misconception that the litter is coming from the boat owners. It looks like we are the jerks, but we are always cleaning up.”

Ala Wai harbor user Chris McClenathan agrees.

“It’s a funnel here,” McClenathan said. “I’m sure DOBOR has enough on their plate, but this really needs to be addressed.”