Despite what you are about to read, rest assured that The Slog is not being taken over by the state of Hawaii. It's just being temporarily overrun...by sewage.Ala Wai Canal March 2006: Photo by Jason Higgins

A couple of weeks ago when we "commemorated" Hawaii's worst sewage spill in history, it was not meant to be a challenge to the Honolulu Sewer Authority to beat last year's record. Well, they went ahead and tried anyway, coming up a tad short by spilling a mere 11,250 gallons of raw sewage into Kaneohe Bay.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports that the spill occurred for the exact same reason - a break in the aging pipe that caused last year's notorious spill into Ala Wai canal. Problems with the Kaneohe Bay force main pipe have been known for years, as was pointed out by Jeff Mikulina of the Hawaii Sierra Club's map of Oahu, which indicates the location of seven "at risk" sewer pipes.

In last month's Honolulu Star Bulletin story marking the one year anniversary of the 48,000 gallon spill of March 2006, city officials claimed that they were doing everything possible to prevent future spills. So, then why another massive spill?

Wait, there's more...

Schofield Army Barracks, on the island of Oahu, also got in on the sewage spilling action:

"Some 640,000 gallons of treated wastewater that had not gone through ultraviolet disinfection flowed into the Dole irrigation ditch in Wahiawa on Monday and yesterday from the Schofield Barracks Wastewater Treatment Plant." - Honolulu Star Bulletin

I smell a new state slogan...Hawaii: Sun, Sand and Sewage.