As Mayor Peter Carlisle prepared for his press conference along the Ala Wai Canal this afternoon, the smell of raw sewage wafted over members of the media (including myself) gathered there.

The odor seemed appropriate considering Carlisle was announcing the near completion of a $46 million force main project that was undertaken as a result of the city needing to dump 48 million gallons of raw sewage into the canal after heavy rain storms in 2006.

The Beachwalk Force Main project includes installing 5,800 feet of new pipe that will run underground from Ala Wai Elementary School to the Moana Park Wastewater Pump Station located near the entrance to Ala Moana Beach Park.

Although the work isn’t expected to be completed until early 2013, the city plans to pull some temporary pipes out of the canal this week.

—Nick Grube