People have been calling and emailing us, asking about something huge that surfaced in the Ala Wai canal Saturday. People want to know, what is it?
Many folks thought it was an overturned boat, some even thought it was the Loch Ness monster. But as it turns out, it was something totally different.
"I’m just wondering how it got here and is there any more coming," said Ron Harris, Waikiki resident.
"First thing is like, how did it get here and why is it exposed," asks Josh Kamoku, from Waikiki.
"Just the fact that it rised is kind of concerning because you don’t know what else could potentially happen," said Jana Walden, another Waikiki resident.
Residents who live near the Ala Wai canal are scratching their heads on how a part of a sewage pipe, once underwater, is now above the surface.
"The Ala Wai is kind of dirty as it is, you know, it got that reputation as it is ever since that last leak, too," Kamoku said.
"If it were to explode or burst it would be probably bad," Walden said.
City officials noticed the problem on Saturday.
They say an air bubble lifted a section in the 5,000 foot-long pipe that caused about 100 feet of it to surface.
The pipe was temporarily put there after the Beachwalk force main break in 2006.
"The last thing we need is another pipe break that backs up the sewage and puts 48 million gallons of sewage in the Ala Wai, we don’t want to see that," said Bob Finley, from the Waikiki Neighborhood Board.
City officials say there is a small amount of raw sewage moving through the pipe that’s now above the surface, but it’s not leaking and it’s not posing a health risk.
"It would be nice to see it go back down or disappear," Kamoku said.
Even though the pipe is exposed, it didn’t seem to bother a pair of kayakers and a canoe crew paddling in the canal.
"The infrastructure is critical in Waikiki because the more you have to make emergency repairs, the more damage it does to the residents’ ability to come and go, and our visitors’ ability to have an enjoyable visit here," Finley said.
The City says a contractor will resubmerge the pipe Monday.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
