Water truck to address rail dust at school

Although the school year ended this week, officials remain concerned about dust accumulating at Wai­pahu High School due to the nearby rail construction.

The problem with dust in the air and settling on campus surfaced in late winter and early spring at the 2,400-student campus near the construction of the rail guideway and the vehicle Rail Operations Center, said state Department of Education spokes­woman Dona­lyn Dela Cruz.

Crews continue to construct columns of the 20-mile, $6 billion transit project along the stretch near the high school, with work scheduled for completion next summer.

There are fewer students on campus during summer school than the regular year, which ended Wednesday. However, Dela Cruz said school officials and the department’s facilities branch continue to work with the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and contractor Kiewit to resolve the issue.

Physical education classes held on the football field are among the more popular summer school classes, she said.

"It doesn’t matter how many students are on campus," Dela Cruz said. "The health and safety is still a priority."

Kiewit officials said they will assign a water truck to the area to regularly dampen the ground at the site.

"We understand that dust has been a problem, and that will be fixed im­mediately," said HART spokes­woman Jeanne Mari­ani-Bel­ding. "Above all, we want to be good neighbors and be proactive so that we don’t have problems like this one."

Additionally, officials said the project provided two portable classrooms and seven air-conditioning units to the school.

But Connie Herolaga, a member of the Wai­pahu Neighborhood Board whose granddaughter attends Wai­pahu High, questioned why the issue was not resolved earlier. She said she would be monitoring the area to ensure a water truck is at the site, especially because her granddaughter has asthma.

"My granddaughter still has PE and they’re on that field," Hero­laga said at last week’s board meeting. "So they’re breathing all that … dust."

Rito Saniatan, a longtime Wai­pahu resident and chairman of the Wai­pahu Neighborhood Board, said parents have not called him about the dust, but that he heard about the issue at last week’s board meeting.

"When kids are playing PE … it’s (dust) being blown into them," Sani­a­tan said. "I think it’s very important to have dust control in the area whether school is in session or not."