Toiling under a cold, persistent rain, some 60 community-minded volunteers put shovel to sand Sunday and restored an oft-clogged path between Kaelepulu Stream and the open ocean.

The effort was coordinated by the Enchanted Lake Residents Association and taken up by paddlers from the Kailua Canoe Club and Keahiakahoe Canoe Club and dozens of individual volunteers.

Kaelepulu Stream is part of the 3,450-acre Kaelepulu Watershed, which stretches from Mount Olomana to Kailua Bay and also includes the 80-acre Kaelepulu Pond, or Enchanted Lake.

A naturally forming sandbar created by sand migrating from the Lanikai end of Kailua Beach Park regularly blocks the stream from discharging into the ocean.

In the past, crews from the city Department of Facility Maintenance conducted monthly clearings of the sandbar using a bulldozer. However, area residents said regular maintenance stopped last year.

The passage was cleared once in October but not again until February.

A crew was dispatched to the area in advance of Tropical Storm Darby on July 22, but association President Greg Colbert said the bulldozer removed only a surface layer of sand, good enough to allow for drainage should the lake have swollen considerably but not enough to restore a regular flow between the two bodies of water.

Colbert said maintaining the channel is important to prevent flooding when the lake overflows and necessary for the overall health of the lake.

“From an ecological standpoint, the more salt water circulating, the healthier the lake is,” Colbert said. “It cuts down on freshwater invasive algae from accumulating and helps with oxygenation, which is really important.”

Colbert said the association, in consultation with environmental scientist Bob Bourke, regularly sends tide charts to the Department of Facility Maintenance because if the clearings are not timed properly, sand can close the passage within a matter of hours. However, the department has not been as responsive as it has been in the past, he said.

“They’re nice and they’re professional, but this (issue) just isn’t getting the priority it should get,” Colbert said.

Thus, rather than let conditions in the stream continue to deteriorate, scores of volunteers wielding nothing more than shovels took it upon themselves to do in three-plus hours what would normally takes a bulldozer a half-hour to accomplish.

Kailua Neighborhood Board Vice Chairman Matt Darnell was driving by with his wife and two sons when he saw the volunteers at work. He promptly stopped the car and joined in the effort.

“I love it when people don’t rely on the state or city and just go out on their own and get things done,” Darnell said. “This is what being a part of a community is all about.”