In the early 1900s, Lucius Pinkham, then President of the Territorial Board of Health, proposed to construct a drainage canal to drain the wetlands, which he considered "unsanitary."

[2][3] Federal flood experts have claimed heavy rain could cause the canal to overflow, potentially inundating the area from Diamond Head to Ala Moana and Moiliili with up to five feet of water.

To prevent such a disaster, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has examined various measures, including digging a deeper channel, widening the McCully bridge, and adding walls along the canal.

A 1976 Department of Health report also said that canal water regularly violated federal limits on fecal coliform counts, an indicator of high bacteria levels.

In the weeks after the incident, beaches were eventually reopened, but it took several months before the Ala Wai Canal was determined to be safe and free from major health concerns.

[4] One person died from septic shock after falling into the Ala Wai Harbor near the mouth of the canal, with his death being attributed by some to the higher levels of bacteria present after the flood.

Additionally, with the current worldwide environmental changes, the scientists' work, "suggest a 2- to 3-fold increase in average V. vulnificus density in the Ala Wai Canal by 2100".