Salt Lake, Hawaii

Salt Lake is a neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of O‘ahu. The area is also known as Āliamanu after a nearby crater, although Salt Lake itself is in a crater called Ālia pa‘akai — meaning "salt pond" in the Hawaiian language. The Salt Lake community was developed in the 1960s during a construction boom, providing residents with an expansive view of downtown Honolulu and the sugarcane plantations of the central plain of O‘ahu. It is a community of high-rise condominiums, mid-rise town-dwellings, and houses snaking around the remnants of a now freshwater lake.The U.S. Postal Code for Salt Lake is 96818. Salt Lake is a part of the 15th District of the Hawaii Senate, currently represented by State Senator Glenn Wakai and the 32nd District of the Hawaii House of Representatives, currently represented by Linda Ichiyama. It is also a part of Council District VII of the City and County of Honolulu, currently represented by Joey Manahan.Geography and historyThe Salt Lake community is built in the larger and easternmost of three overlapping, low profile, tuff cones or volcanic craters: Makalapa, Āliamanu and Āliapa‘akai. A lake, at one time 1.5 km across (20 ha) but very shallow, formed in the bowl of Āliapa‘akai fed by freshwater springs or possibly seawater seepages (Alexander, 1926 in Maciolek, 1982). Because the lake had no outlet, water loss was largely by evaporation, concentrating salts. Up until 1910, the lake was regularly so salty that salt deposits formed around the shore. In that year, an artesian well was dug to bring the water level higher (and salt content lower) for use as a mullet pond; a tunnel, dug through the southeast rim of the crater, controlled water level and provided an outlet (Macdonald, Abbott, and Peterson. 1983). This act and later construction of a larger drainage outlet, eventually removed the salt from Salt Lake.