KAHALU’U (KHON2) — For many years now, the water at Kahalu’u Beach has been nothing short of filthy, but efforts from Senator Brenton Awa’s office and some local Elementary students are hoping to see that changed.
“The water here at Kahalu’u beach is some of the worst in the country actually,” said Martha German, Kahalu’u resident and volunteer for the water monitoring program Blue Water Task Force. “It’s been rated the second worst in the Blue Water Task Force report of last year. We think that a lot of it is coming from the cesspools in the area.”
In response to this, Senator Awa’s office organized a program to get Genki balls, mixtures of rice bran, dirt, molasses, and effective micro-organisms, or good bacteria, into the water, aiming to restore the quality of it.
“We’re giving Mother Nature her probiotics,” said Senator Awa. “You still have people that are crabbing, they drop their nets in. We have the canoe club, kids are paddling there. If you have an open cut, you’re at risk of infection. This is a health concern that’s gone on for far too long.”
Friday morning, students of Waiahole Elementary School took a field trip to the Kahalu’u beach to toss 312 Genki balls into the water. They not only had a great time tossing the Genki balls into the water, but also learned more about the importance of keeping the water clean.
“We throw (the Genki balls) into the stream because we want to keep paddling and keep fishing in here, and catch crab so we can feed our family, and for our Ahupua’a to be cleaned,” one student shared.
Genki balls have also been used in a project for the Ala Wai, a project that Senator Awa hopes this one can build upon.
“We’re relying on the community, it’s a positive thing that we have,” said Senator Awa on the future of the project. “We’re hopeful that this grows. We have kids from four schools dropping 5,000 balls across five months for this project. But during this time, if people see what we’re doing, and they want to get involved, let’s go. Because the more Genki balls we drop in here, the faster we can get good bacteria in here to clear out the bad bacteria and restore our water.”
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Students from Kahalu’u, Ahuimanu, and Heeia Elementary will also participate in Genki Kahalu’u in the coming weeks.