The photographs you see are of a friend of mine’s leg…the first one was four weeks ago and the second one this week…he was fishing by Kaimana, which is a popular Waikiki Beach near the Natatorium and cut his foot…just an inch long cut…it didn’t bleed much, but within two days the infection had set in and after three weeks in the hospital and heavy rounds of antibiotics the second photo shows he has not gotten much better…he is now back in the hospital on another round of drugs…

My friend is younger and he’s not the only one who has suffered maladies, in this year alone, two other people I know have had infections, one, a 56 year old male who went surfing on the North Shore and cut his foot on coral, within five hours a cellulitis infection had spread up to his knee and he spent a week in the hospital…Another, a 70 year old woman who cut her foot on a rock in front of the Outrigger Canoe Club ended up with two weeks in the hospital and a skin graft on her calf because the doctors needed to cut out the infected area to stop the spread of infection…

I try to swim most days in the ocean, but because I have an assortment of animals who rough house with and on top of me, I now check my body daily for any open cuts or scratches…if I find even a small scratch I am out of the water for several days. If it rains, even gently, I will not go into the water for a minimum of five days…I want the water cleared of debris and garbage, which have run down into the ocean from our streams and waterways…

So how did Honolulu’s ocean become so toxic? It started in April 2006 when the sewer system broke during an unprecedented forty days of constant rain and 50 million gallons of raw sewage saturated our water, seashore, and land for five days…the Mayor at that time, Mufi Hanneman and his City Council had been given reports that the main line in Waikiki was breaking down and in immediate need of repair, however, they all chose to ignore the warnings and move on other projects…

Oceanographers have told me the bacterium from those days and current days when raw sewage spills happen because of our inadequate sewer system do not go out to sea…they settled in the sediment and sands of the shorelines and when you have rough seas, particularly like the King tides we have been experiencing of late, the microorganism, which has laid dormant comes out and can only die when the Sun’s UV rays kill it…However, it will remain alive and reproduce under the water surface, sand, or under rocks if the sun cannot get to it, especially on cloudy days…

Honolulu’s sewer system is still working on 1965 capacity and a $650 Million upgrade has been proposed, but currently it’s stuck because the land needed for the rebuilding of the sewer plant is on Office of Hawaiian Affairs land and OHA does not want to sell it…The City will have to force the sale and everyone is currently dragging their feet…

So what is the solution? As I have stated before, Honolulu needs to upgrade our sewer system NOW, and everyone needs to get on board and forget politics…OHA needs to do what’s best for Honolulu, which will in turn help their beneficiaries…the money they will receive from the City for the land can go to other purchases of properties and everyone will benefit…

If nothing is done, then this situation will continue because with inadequate sewer treatment during heavy rains, the system will continue to break up and raw sewer will again be spilled causing the toxins to continue to spread and grow…This is for our future and if not done soon, Honolulu’s life blood, Tourism will die…is anyone listening…