INFORMATION PAPER

SUBJECT: Ala Wai Canal Project, Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

1. PURPOSE: To provide the status of the Ala Wai Canal Project Feasibility Study

2. INFORMATION:

a. The Ala Wai Canal Project is a multiple purpose project being investigated under Section 209 of the Flood Control Act of 1962 (PL 87-874) and currently in the Feasibility Phase. The Feasibility Study, which is estimated at $1.5M, is investigating and evaluating solutions to environmental degradation and flood control problems throughout the Mānoa, Pālolo, and Makiki drainages, including the Ala Wai Canal and Golf Course areas. The Project is sponsored by the State of Hawai‘i, DLNR; the C&C Honolulu and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply are interested in becoming financial co-sponsors. Potential construction costs have not been developed, pending analysis of alternatives in the study.

b. The Ala Wai Canal is a two-mile long man-made waterway constructed during the 1920's to create and protect the Waikīkī area on the Island of O‘ahu. The Ala Wai watershed encompasses more than 16 square miles. The carrying capacity of the canal has been significantly reduced by accumulation of silt and debris from the Mānoa, Pālolo, and Makiki drainage areas in recent years, thereby increasing the potential flood risk to the Waikīkī area. During the November 1965 and December 1967 storms and passage of Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992, the Ala Wai Canal was overtopped causing flooding in the Waikīkī district. The Ala Wai Canal also serves as an important link between the freshwater ecosystems of the upper drainage basins and the marine environment along the coast. Endemic amphidromous species such as native gobies and shrimp that had once utilized the Ala Wai Canal as a migratory pathway from the mountains to the sea are nearly non-existent. The accumulation of silt and pollutants over the years has restricted water flow and circulation resulting in the steady decline in water quality.

c. Feasibility study activities are ongoing. The goals of the project are to protect Waikīkī and the surrounding areas from the 100-year storm event and reverse environmental degradation throughout the watershed caused by urban development and uses to a more natural, but not necessarily pristine, condition. Flood control and ecosystem restoration features continue to be developed.

3. CONGRESSIONAL INTEREST: Senator Inouye; Congressman Abercrombie