It’s hard not to feel a good vibe from the Genki Ala Wai Project, which aims to cleanse our toxic canal that runs the length of Waikiki by seeding its muck with fermented mud balls that target the bad bacteria with healthy microbes.

The beauty of the project, which hopes to make the Ala Wai safe for swimming and fishing within seven years, is that it relies on the efforts of concerned citizens as much as government.

At a recent event sponsored by the Eco Rotary Club of Kakaako, 200 volunteers tossed baseball-size genki balls they’d made from mud, rice bran and molasses into the Ala Wai near the Waikiki-Kapahulu Public Library, where the canal is most stagnant.

That event, along with another genki toss by Nuuanu Elementary School students of 5,000 mud balls into the canal, brought the overall number to 10,000. Organizers estimate the number of genki balls needed to significantly clean the Ala Wai at between 200,000 and 1 million.

The concept, based on the bokashi composting system developed in Japan, is similar to the idea of ingesting probiotics to infuse the gut with healthy microbes to mitigate bad bacteria.

Hiromichi Nago, a technical adviser for the Ala Wai project, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that genki balls “release the microbes that actually digest the sludge that helps oxygenate the bottom, and that (allows) plankton, zooplankton and other creatures to multiply, and that naturally attracts all the fish that feed off of them.”

Mud balls have been used to clean bodies of water in Asia with results that aren’t entirely conclusive, leading to some doubts locally about the benefits of genki balls on the Ala Wai’s goop.

But Nago said fish, birds and turtles have returned to the area where genki balls have been dropped so far.

It’s a daunting task, certainly, but many strategies are needed. University of Hawaii research indicates climate change could triple flesh-eating bacteria inhabiting the Ala Wai by 2100 if we do nothing.

We’ve become too quick to scoff at attempts to clean up our muck, whether it be environmental or political.

For instance, a House-appointed panel led by retired Judge Daniel Foley recently offered excellent suggestions to fight corruption in local government, including special units to prosecute graft, public posting of how legislators spend their personal allowances and no more political fundraising during the legislative session.

Longer-term, members are studying publicly funded elections, top-two primaries, legislative term limits and lobbying reforms.

To listen to some who hang around the Capitol too much, none of it will work and we’re doomed to corruption forever.

But how could we not be better off with more sunshine, political competition and ethical awareness?

The same with the Ala Wai; why not take a shot at sending in an army of healthy microbes to try to reclaim our treasured waterway?

The only way we’re sure to be buried by the sludge is if we don’t even try to fight it back.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.