I have had first hand experience with the Ala Wai Canal all through out high school. I was a four-year paddler in high school and we held our practices in the Ala Wai, let me tell you, that canal is pretty nasty. I feel sorry for those people who have to scoop up that sludge. The sludge on the bottom to the canal is black and is pretty smelly. The canal is pretty shallow, if you wanted to, you could stand up with your head above water. In some parts of the canal if you don't be careful the canoe can get stuck because it is so shallow. One of my friends got pushed into the Ala Wai and he came out with his face covered in that black sludge. It was pretty nasty. I was lucky to have only fallen in three times. Some of my friends fell in three times in one year. One of the times I fell in I touched bottom and let me tell you that sludge felt pretty nasty. The canal is really in need of a dredging and I think that this dredging is necessary, but I really wish that they wouldn't just dump it back into the ocean. In the long run is that really going to help out? The are just polluting the ocean and may possible harm the wildlife out there. But it makes me feel a little better that the place they are dumping this sludge is sanctioned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). So, hopefully the spot were the are dumping everything has no sea creatures in the area and is an extremely deep so it will just go to the bottom, no affecting anything.
             I actually got to see them taking the barge out first hand. One day my friend and I were surfing out at Ala Moana Bowls and we seen this tugboat dragging out this funny looking barge. I was thinking what the hell is that and then I remembered seeing that barge in the Ala Wai. As it passed us the awful smell coming from the barge confirmed my assumption that it was taking the sludge out to be dumped. So I kept an eye on the tugboat to see how far it was going out to dump ...