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The latest effort to prevent a Waikiki flooding disaster linked to the Ala Wai Canal is set to advance this week as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gives the public a chance to comment on its preliminary work.
The Army Corps is planning to present seven flood risk management plans at two workshops on Tuesday and Thursday.
Project Manager Eric Merriam told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that his team is working to finalize its presentation and will not be releasing the plans ahead of the workshops.
However, the meetings will be structured to maximize community participation and feedback, he said. The study team will be accepting comments following the meetings with the aim of incorporating the feedback into future versions of the planning process.
Merriam said the plans will focus on reducing flood risk through different techniques or approaches, including increasing flood storage, altering the path of floodwaters and/or incorporating natural and nature-based features.
Merriam said the plans are the preliminary first versions of the planning effort, and his team is bringing them to the public now in response to calls for more transparency in the planning process.
“I do not expect that any one of these alternatives will be the final plan,” he said.
The effort represents the latest attempt to deal with a potential problem that was identified decades ago: The Ala Wai Canal is unable to hold enough water to protect Waikiki and nearby areas from flooding caused by a massive storm.
The risk of flooding threatens the 200,000 residents living along the Makiki, Manoa and Palolo streams and the Ala Wai Canal, including Waikiki.
And ongoing sea level rise connected to global warming is making the disaster threat loom even larger.
The Ala Wai Flood Risk Management project, a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city, dates back to 1999. But it wasn’t authorized and funded for design and construction until 2018.
The controversial effort hit the skids in 2020, however, after it was determined that costs had nearly doubled to $651 million in the wake of prolonged community dissension, much of it over a concrete wall planned around the Ala Wai.
In a new agreement with the city, the federal government agreed to pay up to $3 million for a general evaluation study to come up with a new plan that city officials say will draw on previous knowledge to find a new scope that balances risk and cost.
The first round of community meetings in November 2021 introduced the study and gathered initial input and ideas during an interactive workshop to brainstorm potential solutions and identify concerns.
In April 2022, another series of workshops were held to discuss the effort and gather additional flood-control ideas. The project team gathered some 230 flood-control ideas and put them on a spreadsheet online.
Following an evaluation of most of them, only about 50 measures remain under consideration. They include opening up the east end of the canal to the ocean, as well as constructing several “microtunnels” under Waikiki to allow water to drain out to the ocean.
Other suggestions still under consideration include utilizing the Kaimuki High School football field for excess floodwater, diverting water to Kapiolani Park for added flood storage and creating an underground parking structure at the Ala Wai Golf Course that connects to Waikiki for use as flood storage.
Sidney Lynch, president of Protect Our Ala Wai Watersheds, said she’s “cautiously hopeful” the Army Corps will be able to create a functional plan that will win acceptance in the community.
Lynch, whose group in 2019 took the city to court over perceived flaws in the plan, said she’s hoping there will be a maintenance budget built into any flood-control projects planned for the stream beds, such as detention basins.
“If they are not properly maintained, they can get clogged up,” she said.
Lynch said she also hopes priority will be given to low-elevation problem areas of Moiliili and Manoa, and she’d like to see the Ala Wai Golf Course fully utilized as a detention basin.
“I’m interested to see what they come up with,” she said.
A draft Ala Wai flood management report and proposed plan should be ready by the next round of public meetings, tentatively scheduled for November.
A final report is expected to be out by the spring of 2023, followed by more opportunities for feedback.
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This week’s meetings
>> A virtual meeting will run 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. To access the meeting, go to usace1.webex.com/meet/AlaWai. For audio-only access, call 1-844-800-2712. Use access code 1992 62 9020.
>> Thursday’s meeting will be held 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Ballroom at Ala Wai Golf Course Club House. Doors will open at 5 p.m.
Correction: The virtual meeting will be Tuesday. An earlier version of the information box had the wrong day.
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