Tourism dollars will soon augment efforts to improve the viability of the Ala Wai watershed, including the filthy Ala Wai Canal.

Members of the Ala Wai Watershed Collaboration had sought $250,000 from state lawmakers this year to seed efforts to set up the community-based Ala Wai Improvement District. Nainoa Thompson, best known for reviving the ancient Polynesian art of navigation through the voyages of the canoe Hokule‘a, and representatives from the tourism industry, schools, nonprofits and restoration organizations are part of the high-stakes effort.

Thompson moored the Hokule‘a in the canal by the Hawai‘i Convention Center for several days after its worldwide voyage and opened it for tours to help bring attention to the cause.

“I know the Ala Wai is not a healthy place. Like many people, I avoided it, but we can’t protect what we don’t understand and we won’t protect what we don’t value,” Thompson said last fall at the collaboration’s kickoff meeting.

Hawaii has spent more than 20 years trying to improve the Ala Wai watershed, a 19-square-mile area that joins water bodies from the Koolau Mountains to Mamala Bay. Risk experts have warned lawmakers that the watershed’s vulnerability could result in financial devastation.

If a Category 4 hurricane were to hit Oahu, some estimate damage to Waikiki alone could hit $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.

When the money didn’t make it out of this year’s state budgeting process, the Hawaii Tourism Authority agreed to earmark part of its $575,000 environmental sustainability fund, said Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana, HTA director of Hawaiian cultural affairs. The fund is part of an additional $850,000 that the HTA allocated for community, environmental and cultural programs, which have grown to nearly $5.4 million of the fiscal year 2018 budget, he said.

Ka‘ana‘ana said the goal of HTA’s additional allocation is “to find the balance between social and economic benefit.”

“We want to align with community programs that help us move the needle in addressing visitor impacts. We see value in being able to protect our natural resources,” he said. “When it comes to the Ala Wai, this is our own backyard and the money will be used to help formalize an entity that will move forward to address concerns in the whole watershed, including Waikiki.”

Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged said the HTA funds will be released once the collaboration raises $250,000 in matching funds. Egged said after the funds are released, the group plans to take about 18 months to formulate an action plan.

The collaboration intends to sort through about a half-dozen 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.