A March of Feces, Then April Fools

Posted on February 05, 2007 @ 11:04 AM

“The one thing I am a little turned off with is the lawsuits,”
said Cole, “because what happens in a lawsuit is you end up having
to spend a lot of money against that lawsuit that you could put into
fixing the sewage system.”

Rick Egged of the Waikiki Improvement Association agrees:
“Given the state of our system, which was described as ‘archaic’,
it seems to me that this is turning into a community emergency
situation, and it shouldn’t be business as usual in terms of
upgrading our system. All the regulatory processes that might
stretch this out into an extended period of time should be brought
together in a shortened period.”

Will toxic sediments pulse out into surrounding beaches
and cause health problems during future fl oods? I’m not sure.
Preliminary tests I ran of samples taken from the bottom at the Ala
Wai sewage-discharge site in early May showed alarmingly high
fecal bacteria (enterococci) levels. Further preliminary tests ran by
a certified lab in July showed sediment samples collected at 30ft
deep at Ala Moana Bowls to contain enterococci. A suite of tests for
additional bacteria could provide more valid results, but cost limits
tests such as DNA tracking.

One fact is clear: Development has significantly altered
Waikiki. No longer vibrant with taro fields, native plants, and
birds, the area has lost the natural filtration system of undisturbed
swamps. “The wetlands can be a natural fi lter, and we are doing
away with wetlands with developments all around the islands,”
said Peter Cole.


MEANWHILE …

Converting limited open land areas (like the Ala Wai golf course
along the canal) into reconstructed wetlands using plants to fi lter
out urban runoff pollution could improve water quality of downslope
recreational waters. If we reserve parcels of land currently
used for par-3s as bioremediation centers, we could replace
heavily fertilized grass with native plants. Researchers are using
hydroponics to grow akulikuli plants fl oating on rafts within the
Ala Wai canal, because the akulikuli roots absorb contaminated
surface water.

But for now, urbanization continues its menacing sprawl, as
native Hawaiians get pushed off their land, and separated from
their roots. And if you even try to plant a seed on the Ala Wai
golf course or along a Hawaiian stream without government
permission, you could go to jail or be heavily fined, even though
the same elected officials who hand out tree-planting permits can
dump 48 million gallons of raw sewage into state waters. So, the
day awaits that the herbal healing process cracks its roots through
paved roads and buildings in Waikiki, and blossoms into native
plants from mountain to sea.

“All I do is plant a seed,” sings Sashamon from Moloka‘i.
“Makes me feel good, makes me feel irie. But I’m a herbal
criminal. We are herbal criminals!” Sashamon is a musician,
music director, and composer for Surfi ng Medicine International,
a nonprofit group seeking to foster cooperation between
traditional healers and surfers to create sustainable medicinal plant systems for coastal communities around the world suffering
from the effects of pollution. “Send Jah roots down. Then we
gonna grow. Send Jah roots down and reach to the sky … so the
river can sparkle to the sea,” rhapsodizes Sashamon. “Send Jah
roots down for all mankind. Jah roots is what we need, so let’s get
down, let’s get dirty.”

“Roots is powerful. Roots is like a medicine,” says Bobo
Richie, Rastafarian roots man from Jamaica, and co-founder of Surfing
Medicine International. Bobo Richie lives off the land, and understands
the importance of planting roots to keep our waters clean.

“If the heavy rains start again, and a lot of rainwater gets into
our wastewater sewers, and the volume becomes too much, then
we may run into problems again,” says Eric Takamura, Director of
Environmental Services for the City and County of Honolulu.

Meanwhile, someone surfs, someone gets barreled, and
someone eats the fish that eat off the urban streambed sediment.
The State of Hawaii has not conducted a thorough study to
correlate known environmental pollutants in recreational water
and sediment to illness rates of associated user groups. Meanwhile,
that adrenaline junkie at Pipe or Bowls might get sick, while
politicians and scientists debate the effi cacy of coastal water quality
data in Hawaii and tropical islands worldwide.

Meanwhile, surfers scan mountaintops and wonder if that
cloud will burst, if that dam will break, if that sediment is tainted.
But … surf on! Rip that tube like it’s your last! Stick that barrel like
it doesn’t matter … as planes depart and arrive 24/7 at Honolulu
International … as surfers surf, fossil fuels burn, fishermen fish,
ice caps melt, hotels rise, ozone holes expand, and a March 2006
satellite image of the Pacific Ocean looked like one big cloud
evaporating off the North and South poles sending twisting
vortices of rain to the birthplace of surfing … as global warning
loomed and Waikiki beach was closed, as March came in like Jah
lion, and pulsed out like April fools.

Guy Ragosta, MS in Natural Resources and Environmental Management, researches
stream ecology and makes fi lm documentaries about connections between water
quality, plants, and surfi ng in Hawaii, Jamaica, and Africa. See more at: www.surfingmedicine.org

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