The Ala Wai’s infamous “black noodle” — an emergency sewage pipe installed in 2006 — has made its way to the surface of the canal and is ready to be cut up and hauled away. 

The 48-inch pipe that snakes its way through the canal toward the boat harbor was installed after a sewage main broke in Waikiki, prompting city officials to dump a massive 48 million gallons of raw sewage into the popular waterway. 

On Wednesday, the pipe, which is apparently no longer black, but gray, floated on the surface of the canal as canoe paddlers maneuvered around it. The pipe, submerged for seven years, is encrusted with what looks like gray barnacles and some sort of grass or seaweed. 

The mayor held a press briefing earlier in the day to discuss the city’s progress in removing the pipe. Civil Beat was snubbed from the event. But no matter. We still got some good photos and video after the fact. 

The “gray noodle” is expected to be completely removed by the end of the month, according to a press release issued by the mayor’s office after the press briefing. Construction has finally been completed on a permanent back-up pipe that’s buried along the canal’s banks.

Read more about the history of the Ala Wai Canal, it’s history and pollution in Civil Beat’s series: Ala Wai Canal: Hawaii’s Biggest Mistake?

Photo: Civil Beat

— Sophie Cocke