Kaelepulu Pond: Community Efforts to Preserve an Urban Tropical Estuary

Kaelepulu Pond is the 90-acre estuary remnant of a 200–400 acre ancient Hawaiian fishpond in the community of Enchanted Lake on the windward shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The Pond is central to the highly urbanized watershed and connected via a series of drainage canals which terminate to the ocean across a popular tourist beach. The City of Honolulu has 73 NPDES permitted storm drains entering the pond and canal estuary system. During the past two decades, the community has noted significant shoaling near large storm drain inlets, overgrowth by non-native mangrove, loss of oyster beds, increased fish die-offs, periods of noxious odors, and a continuous deterioration in the ecological quality of the pond. A series of community initiated investigations of bathymetry, pond water quality, and storm water input coupled with a Hawaii Department of Health funded mangrove removal project has combined to yield a greater understanding of the problem and the beginnings of restoration activities.