KAPAA Dredging is done at Waikaea Canal by Lihi Park, but there are still some telltale signs of work around the canal.
KAPAA — Dredging is done at Waika‘ea Canal by Lihi Park, but there are still some telltale signs of work around the canal.
That’s because the contractor, American Marine Corporation, is continuing the $1.5 million project to clear the canal and stop sand from the nearby beach from filtering through the breakwall.
“The contractor is now doing repairs to the breakwater to prevent sand from the adjacent beach from penetrating through and over the breakwater and filling in the Waika‘ea Canal channel,” said AJ McWhorter, spokesman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
He said the dredging part of the project was completed in February.
DLNR didn’t give a deadline for when the project should be done, but said work is well underway.
Dredging frequency is highly variable depending on the channel and depending on the rate of sand accumulation — there are more than 50 canals, streams and river mouths on Kauai that connect with the ocean and many of them are dredged when needed, according to DLNR.
Most recently, 15,000 cubic yards of sand were removed from the Waimea Rivermouth where it connects to the ocean in order to help prevent upstream flooding and stagnation.
The last time Waika’ea Canal was dredged was in 2007 and the breakwall repairs should help lessen the rate of sand build-up in the canal when the project is finished.
“It is our hope that the channel will not need to be dredged again for at least another 10 years,” McWhorter said.
