Pair receive $120K science grant

University of Hawaii assistant professor Tao Yan and his Israeli colleague Cytryn Eddie have received a $120,000 grant from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation.

Their two-year project is expected to study how human activities like irrigating fields with reused waste water affects antibiotic resistance in soil.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Kilauea’s lava continues its march to sea

Lava from Kilauea’s 2007 Thanksgiving Eve breakout vent continued to move slowly through two active surface flows yesterday.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, an inflating flow fed a pair of ocean entries southwest of the Kalapana Gardens subdivision. The western entry point, Puhi o Kalaikini, now measuring 2,950 feet wide, is showing more vigorous activity than the eastern entry, Iliili.

The observatory reported that scattered outbreaks west of the county viewing area continue but with little forward progress. No houses were in danger.

The observatory warned, however, that the lava deltas and adjacent areas are extremely dangerous.

The steam plume produced by lava entering the ocean presents a health hazard because it contains fine lava fragments and an assortment of acid droplets, officials said.

Restoration of beach said to injure reef

SPRECKELSVILLE, Maui » Some Maui ocean users are complaining that a privately funded effort to restore a Paia beach is damaging the reef.

A group of beachfront homeowners is funding the Stable Road project, which uses sand-filled structures called Geotubes to control erosion.

Divers have complained that pipe anchors on the structures, or groins, had broken free, allowing the pipes to pound and scrape the coral reef.

Property owners down the coast also say the groins have disrupted the usual movement of sand.

Critics are pressing the Department of Land and Natural Resources to order the Geotubes removed.

But Conservation and Coastal Lands Administrator Sam Lemmo says he will wait until coastal geologists finish their evaluations of the project to decide.