Ala Wai Canal
The Ala Wai Canal is an artificial water channel in Honolulu ( State of Hawaii ), which serves as the northern boundary of the district of Waikiki.
The channel was founded in 1921, commissioned by Lucius E. Pinkham, the then Governor of the Territory of Hawaii and completed in 1928. It was created for the purpose, which dry out rice and wetlands, so that was a peninsula that forms Waikiki today. This has developed after the Second World War, a popular tourist center.
The channel has its origins in the southeast of Kapahulu Avenue and ends after about three kilometers in the Yacht Club of Waikiki in the Pacific Ocean. The artificial river banks are built with high-quality condominiums and densely populated. In just under two square kilometers Area more than 90,000 people, of which about 70 % tourists.
Again and again the poor water quality is criticized. This is because the channel has an artificial waterway no natural organisms that would allow cleaning. Warning signs on the banks indicate that swimming or fishing is prohibited in the canal. In 2003, an unusually large and heavy specimen of a mantis cancer was found in the water. Experts believe that the urban sewage is responsible.