The recent repointing of the bike and walk path at Ala Wai has reminded many of the incident that closed it eight years ago: the massive spill that sent 48 million gallons of raw, untreated sewage into the Ala Wai Canal. The spill closed Waikiki beaches for weeks, posing a serious environmental and health threat. It was, by all accounts, the largest sewage spill in the past two decades. However, it was only one illustrative event in a series outlining the deterioration, neglect, and failings of the Honolulu sewer system. Indeed, sewage spills had been an ongoing problem before the Ala Wai spill, with one occurring almost daily.
While the Ala Wai spill occurred at a time when the Sierra Club, along with Hawai’i’s Thousand Friends and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, had brought a civil suit against the City and County of Honolulu (CCH) for repeated violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), it was not the first suit brought against the city. In 1990, Hawai’i’s Thousand Friends and the Sierra Club brought a civil suit against the CCH for repeated illegal bypasses of sewage treatment equipment. By 1993, the court issued a declaratory judgment against the CCH, finding it liable for 9,870 violations of the secondary treatment requirements as well as 52 bypasses and 52 counts of non-reporting violations of the act (Hawaii Thousand Friends vs. CCH). This ruling was followed by a lawsuit brought against the CCH by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Hawai`i Department of Health (DOH) for unpermitted sewage overflows and spills in 1994, which was settled via a Consent Degree in 1995 (Sierra Club vs. CCH). The Consent Degree aimed at remedying CWA violations and tackle the spill problem by requiring sewe...
... middle of paper ...
...number of sewage spills on Oahu as well as a decline in volume. Similarly, the annual progress reports required by the settlement and Consent Degree reveal overall compliance with project schedules and construction (Honolulu.gov). However, many of the “big” projects are yet to be completed, which renders assessments of progress and commitment challenging. More accurately, the CCH has until June 2020 to complete the sewer retrofits, recovery, and improvements. Additionally, it has till 2024 to accomplish upgrades to secondary treatment at the Honouliuli wastewater treatment plant and until 2035 at the Sand Island plant. Nevertheless, considering the developments since the Ala Wai spill one could conclude that as unfortunate as the Ala Wai spill was for the environment, Honolulu, residents and visitors it provided the impetus for change.
Works Cited
N/A - inserted
Before and after the rise of Christianity, philosophers depended largely on developing axioms and using them to draw conclusions about the world. Before Christianity, the axioms were typically based on what was apparent to human reason. After Christianity became widespread, thinkers had to contend with a new source of knowledge- one based on faith rather than on what appeared self-evident to the human mind. Early Christians justified their dependence on faith in different ways. Some embraced fideism
Iran – Before and After the Revolution The Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly known as Iran or Persia, was crowded with a young generation looking for full freedom against the Shah. Persia, once as a powerful country with vast oil resources, soon became a vulnerable nation, ready to accept a new leader to guide them. The people were ready for change, but were the changes they got the changes they were looking for. The people wanted freedom against the shah, (For generations Iran was ruled by Kings)
Once called the Public Housing capital in the United States, Newark was receiving more money than any other city from the federal government to clear slums and build public housing complexes. People like Louis Danzig who was the head of the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) used the federal funds the city received to destroy low income housing of minorities in Newark, then build public housing on the outskirts of the city putting all the poor minorities in these areas. The police brutalized the cities
HUM 1010 FINAL PAPER RELIGIOUS ART BEFORE AND AFTER THE REFORMATION The reformation in Germany started because Martin Luther was not happy with the way the Catholics were handling Christianity and he felt that a change needed to happen. He is known to have started the reformation by publishing a ninety-five thesis essay. In the essay, he rejected the authority the pope had against the people and argued that what they taught had no foundation in the bible. Before the reformation, art was sponsored
Proficiency of people before and after war The current civilization in most countries across the world has brought with it a number of challenges. The fact that most countries nowadays operate as sovereign states implies that there will always be some instances where these countries will strongly disagree on global issues affecting them (Abidi and Singh 12). As such, whether justified or not, there will always be wars and physical confrontations between disagreeing sovereign states. When such wars
Pearl Harbor is easily one of the most disastrous events that occurred on American soil. It was a deliberate attack against the United States from Japan. Before December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, America had decided not to get involved in European affairs, which included the beginning of World War II. However, once the United States saw how much Britain and the Soviet Union were suffering from fighting with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), America felt obligated to help
Introduction Before 1997, Hong Kong was being the colony of the United Kingdom, politics in Hong Kong is different from the mainland China and it is unique from other countries. After 1997, the sovereignty of Hong Kong is regressed to China, then the Hong Kong politics was under the foundation of ‘One Country Two systems’ and it is regulated by the Basic Law of Hong Kong. In almost each countries’ political system, political parties would be found. Political parties could divide into two main
mother was entangle with death. Though the topic is morbid her artwork is something to be admired and praised. As the old saying goes beauty is in the eye of the beholder and though death is shown in Kollwitz’s artwork it is somehow beautifully sad. Before talking about her artwork it is best to know where Kollwitz’s fascination with death originated. The infant mortality rate was much higher back then so it was not uncommon for women to give birth to five or six kids and only three of them live past
Slavery: Life Before and After the Emancipation Proclamation Life before and after the Emancipation Proclamation was quite different in the lives of the slaves back then. Looking back before this great proclamation, slaves were seen as less than humans, mistreated, and endured various hardships. Contrasting with this, was how life was for them after the Emancipation Proclamation, in which the slaves were now free and could lead almost what was normal and productive lives. In this essay, I will give
American Wars before and after the Industrial Revolution Before the Industrial Revolution, the only things people knew of wars were what had been painted and told to them, as H. Bruce Franklin mentions in his writing: “prior to Civil War, visual images of America’s wars were almost without expectation expressions of romanticism and nationalism” (402). Franklin, in his essay “From Realism to Virtual Reality: Images of America’s Wars,” clearly and precisely describes how the wars before and after the Industrial
which resulted from a severe car accident. Throughout this analysis, I will consider how Sarah’s life after her injury differs from her past, identify the major themes presented by Genova that coincide with Sarah’s trauma, and reflect on how Sarah’s account of brain injury changed my understanding of brain function, injury, and recovery. Initially, I will explore Sarah’s life before and after her injury. Prior to her accident, Sarah Nickerson had a polished life. She received a top-notch education
Introduction The following article will focus on change in South Africa before and after 1994 and the disorganisation which it brought to South Africans. South Africa went through a serious of transitions in technology, ecology, the career world, economic progress, norms and value system and in the social and political framework, Prinsloo (1998). Change is mostly seen as a threat; as something negative and as something which is hard to adapt to, thus bringing disorganisation into a situation. In
African American Life Before and After Emancipation Slavery was an intrinsic part of North American history from the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607 to the legal abolition of servitude in 1865. But our nation continues to grapple with the economic, political, social, and cultural impact of that peculiar institution to this day. Over seventy years after the end of the Civil War, the WPA Federal Writer’s Project sought to understand the impact which slavery had on the lives of African
What is amazing is that in that moment, there was a moment before — that we saw that plane, that second plane — and there was a moment after, and it’s like two different worlds, those two moments. I mean, literally, I can feel like I can remember the exact second when the whole world changed and my life changed forever. Because one minute, it was a building on fire and the next minute, none of us were safe. That’s what it felt like. There was no sense of where to go, what to do, how to protect ourselves
the black citizens socially and economically. Through time, globalization, and the revolution, meanings and perceptions of race and race relations in Cuba changes, specifically in education, job opportunities, and social status. PRE-REVOLUTION Before the revolution, Cuba operates under a capitalist system (Marcus, 2013), which leads to an extreme segregation in education, in the job market, and in marriage laws. Racism is evident in all aspects and areas of life and the black Cubans are racialized