Evidence-based evaluation of Genki Balls focus of symposium
Panelists took questions from the audience during the Genki Ball Symposium. Credit: Anuj Pawar.
Hawaiʻi Pacific University (HPU) hosted a research symposium and panel discussion on July 17 at its Aloha Tower Marketplace campus where scientists presented the findings of a two-year field and laboratory study, conducted with the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Mānoa, evaluating whether Genki balls improve water quality in Hawaiʻi’s waterways. These findings were presented alongside research conducted in the Ala Wai Canal, highlighting the system’s complexity and the difficulty of attributing changes in environmental conditions to individual bioremediation efforts.
Genki balls are fermented mud balls made from mud, rice bran and molasses, combined with a commercial product called Effective Microorganisms, or EM, which is marketed as containing lactic acid bacteria, phototrophic bacteria and yeast.
Tossed into waterways, the balls are intended to sink to the bottom, break down organic “sludge” and improve water quality. The best-known local effort, the Genki Ala Wai Project, has deployed hundreds of thousands of the balls into Honolulu’s Ala Wai Canal since 2019, supported by community volunteers and ongoing third-party monitoring. EM is produced by EMRO USA and distributed locally through partners including EM Hawaiʻi LLC.
Titled HPU Talks: Evaluating Genki Balls for Hawaiʻi’s Waterways, the symposium brought together researchers, educators, resource managers and community partners for an afternoon of evidence-based discussion. Opening remarks were delivered by HPU College of Natural and Computational Sciences Dean Brenda Jensen, followed by a keynote address from Grieg Steward, professor of oceanography in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).
Presentations throughout the afternoon followed from SOEST researchers Kacie Kajihara (Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology; HIMB), Grieg Steward (Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education; C-MORE), Shaun Wriston (Pacific Island Ocean Observing System) and others from The Nature Conservancy, EMRO USA, and Hawaiʻi Green Growth. A moderated panel was led by Rob Toonen, Professor and Endowed Chair at HIMB, and included SOEST researchers Kenneth Kaneshiro (Pacific Bioscience Research Center), Craig Nelson (C-MORE), and Michael Rappé (HIMB) and others.
The Genki Ala Wai Project and the HPU and UH Mānoa research team were each given equal time to present their findings and equal representation on the panel.
Read more on HPU’s The ‘Ohana.