KANE'OHE — Years of runoff draining into Kea'ahala Stream have slowly filled the Makani Kai Marina harbor with silt, making it impossible for some boaters to sail to Kane'ohe Bay except at high tide.

For the first time, the owners are about to dredge the inner harbor to remove silt so the boats won't get stuck in the mud during low tide. But finding an economical way to deal with the dredged silt is proving difficult.

"You call the state, you call the city and you get the same skip, hop and jump," said Ron Seiple, chairman of the Makani Kai Marina dredging committee. "Nobody wants to help and, in reality, it's not our mud in the first place."

The problems are not new for marina owners, including at Kaneohe Yacht Club and the Hawai'i Kai Marina. Strict environmental laws designed to halt unchecked dredging and dumping in the ocean mean easy solutions are hard to come by.

Some marine experts would prefer dredging as little as possible.

Paul Jokiel, a coral expert with the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island, said there might be some benefit to the waters of the bay if the material removed is toxic.

However, he disagrees with dredging done solely to benefit boaters.

Dredging, to a degree, can be good for the bay but if it isn't done properly it could cause a worse problem than leaving the material in place, said Watson Okubo, state Department of Health supervisor for the Monitoring and Analysis Section that inspects dredging projects.

"It's how you do it that determines whether you did good for the bay or not," Okubo said, adding that coral protection is a major concern and with projects like Makani Kai, coral in the proposed construction site would have to be transplanted.

Makani Kai Marina is a boater's haven tucked into a corner of Kane'ohe Bay, where sailors live in townhouse condominiums, their vessels anchored just feet from their doors at piers built in the 1970s.

The marina has a $250,000 budget, Seiple said, and owners are prepared to pay for the dredging — but they were caught off guard over the cost of hauling the material to Waimanalo Gulch: as much as $1,000 a truckload.

OPTIONS WEIGHED

After estimating it would take hundreds of truckloads to remove the silt, Seiple said marina owners are considering other options, including using the material as fill for private properties. When dry, Seiple said, the dirt should make good top soil.

George Young, Regulatory Branch chief for the Honolulu District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues permits for dredging projects, said that while the Army Corps can supply information on dredging, it can't advise on projects. Also, the government isn't responsible for disposing of the material, he said.

"We're supposed to be neutral arbiters as opposed to project planners," Young said. "We can point folks in a certain direction but we can't endorse anything and also we have no authority to give them technical advice."

Young said people are required to present their plans to the Army Corps, which is among a half-dozen agencies to review it before a permit is issued. He calls dredging a daunting process with a litany of federal requirements to protect the environment and the public.

Marinas have two disposal options — open ocean dumpsites and land — said David Griffith, project manager for American Marine Corp, which provides dredging services. He also said in cases where the site is contaminated — as was found when the Ala Wai Canal was dredged — special handling is required, again making the process more expensive.

LENGTHY PROCESS

Ocean dumping is more economical because 1,500 to 3,000 yards of material can be loaded on a scow and barged to a dump site off Pearl Harbor, Griffith said. Typically, a dump truck holds 20 yards and extra care must be taken to prevent leaking on the highways and overloading with wet material. A truckload can cost $600 to go to Waimanalo Gulch, Griffith said, adding that there are no ocean dumpsites or landfills in Windward O'ahu, making a dredging project in places such as the Makani Kai Marina very expensive.

"In the past we took it to farms," Griffith said, "but the permitting process is more difficult now and it's just harder to get rid of it."

Peter Nottage, commodore at Kane'ohe Yacht Club, said 40 years ago it took two weeks to get a permit but now it takes years. The club expects to dredge soon and the contractor will have to come up with a disposal method.

Nottage said removing the loose material from their marina will help the bay as well as club members.

"The storm won't push that loose material further out into the bay," he said.

"In terms of the reef system as a whole, in terms of the environment, the coral and the fish probably leaving it there is fine."

The Hawai'i Kai Marina Community Association is in the process of re-establishing its dredging permit and disposal is a critical issue, said Steve Carr, president of the association and a member of the dredging committee. The association has a small island in the marina where it can place material for the near term, but an endangered bird species has established there and the island may become off-limits in the future, Carr said.

Carr said the marina must deal with two types of material — sand that migrates from Portlock Beach and blocks the marina entrance to the ocean, and silt that comes from the surrounding area.

PLANNING AHEAD

Carr said he's researched the disposal problem and found other solutions that might help, including collecting the material in water-tight bags, drying it and later selling it.

He said the association spent $300,000 on its last dredging project many years ago and spends $40,000 a year testing its waters. It wants to be ready when dredging becomes necessary again because a project cost can escalate when left too long, he said.

"The big picture too is that the marina empties into the ocean and we don't want to be party to making environmental hazards out in the bay," Carr said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.