On Friday, December 15th, members of Hawaiian Telcom's Mālama ‘Āina group met with Hiro Nago of EM Hawaii to inspect the Genki balls and release all 561 Genki balls into the Ala Wai.
The Genki Ala Wai Project was launched late in 2019 with the ambitious mission to make the Ala Wai Canal swimmable and fishable in seven years. This is accomplished through the use of Effective Microorganism (EM) technology, which introduces good bacteria in the form of Genki balls to rid the canal of sludge. And the proof is in the results itself - over the course of the last 4 years, water testing has shown a 40-70% decrease in fecal bacteria readings at four different testing sites along the Ala Wai. Nature also tells of the project's success. The Ala Wai Canal has had the reappearance of fish and wildlife such as mullets, sea horses, sea turtles and a manta ray over the past year.
With help from the Waikiki Yacht Club, ten volunteers had the opportunity to paddle out to the toss site near the Hawaii Convention Center. Our remaining volunteers walked to the Ala Wai Promenade from the Waikiki Yacht Club to meet the team and to launch the Genki balls from the walkway.
Many thanks to EM Hawaii for allowing us to be part of this community-changing project, and thanks to our Mālama ‘Āina team leaders, Cat Kaho'okele and Roxy Campbell-Canencia for providing the group support for the land and canoe teams.
Learn more about the Genki Ala Wai Project.