Contact: Jenna Ishii, Beach Cleanup Coordinator
Telephone: 228-0133
Email: jenna.ishii@gmail.com
EARTH DAY CLEANUP ALONG THE ALA WAI CANAL ON SATURDAY 4/27/08
Cleanup to Draw Attention to Dirty State of Ala Wai Canal
Be part of one of the most significant community minded cleanups in Hawaii. On April 27, 2008, the Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter will be organizing volunteers to clean up around the Ala Wai Park and Canal as one of the 2008 Earth Day events.
Organizers hope to clean the area, to teach everyone to keep litter and contaminants out of our streams, and to bring attention to how polluted the Ala Wai Canal has become. Oahu Chapter Co-Chair Scott Werny says, “The initial vision for the canal when it was created in the 1920’s was to create a canal as beautiful as those found in Venice that would be cleaner and healthier than the wetlands it replaced. It is ironic and sad that the canal is now a dirty disgrace that has poor, unhealthy water quality.” He adds, “It really is unacceptable. We need to tell our elected officials to do something about it.”
The canoe clubs who used to practice in the canal have left it. Keahiakahoe Women’s Canoe Club coach Donna Kahakui says, “The canoe clubs that are affected by the construction of the new sewage system must leave the Ala Wai Canal.” Having the canal on the Department of Health’s list of polluted waters, with too many cases of staph infections, it doesn’t make sense to expose everyone to these dirty waters every day.
The Ala Wai Canal is included on Hawaii’s current 303(d) list of “Impaired Waters”. This growing list of streams, rivers, and beaches is created by our state Department of Health to comply with the Clean Water Act. Its waters flow through the canal, past the Ala Wai Harbor, and into the line-up of one of the best surf spots on the south shore, Bowls.
The cleanup is one of the chapter’s monthly cleanups that they’ve been doing around Oahu for the last 12 years.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the Earth Day Clean up should meet at the Ala Wai Neighborhood Park, next to the Ala Wai Elementary School at 9AM on Sunday, April 27, 2008. Gloves and bags will be provided, along with refreshments and giveaways for those that help.
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Scott Werny, Co-Chair @ 808-391-4488; or Marvin Heskett, Co-Chair @ 808-772-4617.
The Surfrider Foundation O'ahu Chapter is a non-profit grassroots organization run solely by volunteers with more than 500 members on O'ahu. In its 12th year of activism, the O'ahu Chapter works to improve ocean water and beach quality, to keep and open access to the ocean for all to enjoy, and to assure that development on our island is responsible by having minimal impact on our coastal environment. The chapter is one of 80 Surfrider Foundation chapters worldwide with over 50,000 members. For more information go to: www.surfrider.org/oahu or www.myspace.com/oahusurfriderchapter or call 531-SURF
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