LIHUE — Department of Health and Kauai Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force are watching the waters of Wailua River near Kuhio Highway and Wailua Beach for sewage pathogens after a blocked sewer line spewed at least 1,000 gallons of wastewater on Kuhio Kighway.
“Since this is a wastewater discharge — sewage spill — there is a possibility that sewage pathogens entered the water,” said DOH spokeswoman Anna Koethe. “This is the main public health concern and for this reason, the public should stay out of the affected waters.”
DOH’s Clean Water Branch posted signs near the spill area and will continue to keep the public informed on further updates through its website. DOH water testing won’t happen until Monday with results posted Tuesday.
BWTF’s Carl Berg drove to Kapaa about 11:30 Friday morning to go for a run on the bike path and said he could smell raw sewage hours after the overflow first started.
“The stench was terrible. We went for a run and had lunch and came back through this afternoon and it was pouring on to road and smelled horrible,” said BWTF’s Carl Berg. “I bet it goes to Lydgate.”
The spill volume reported as of Friday afternoon is about 1,000 gallons, which entered Wailua Estuary and has raised concerns of elevated enterococci counts and other bacterias common in sewage. Exposure to sewage contaminated recreational waters may cause gastrointestinal illnesses in swimmers, according to DOH.
As far as damage to marine life, such as coral reefs, the state says it’s still an unknown.
“There is always a possibility that any sewage discharge can harm coral reefs; however, it is difficult to say to what extent as it depends on dilution effects (like) currents,” Koethe said.
Berg said he’s concerned the sewage-contaminated water will make its way into Morgan Ponds at Lydgate, where tourists and residents alike bring their families for swimming and picnics.
“Think of all the wood that went into the ponds (from the April floods),” Berg said. “That all came from the Wailua River.”
Because the spill happened on the county’s watch, BWTF normally wouldn’t do any water testing, but Berg said Friday afternoon that this could be a special circumstance.
Kauai County will begin sampling Saturday after the pipe has been repaired and will provide DOH with a sampling map to go along with data.
“We should receive the first set of results by Monday. Sampling sites will include upstream of the spill (broken pipe), at the site of the broken pipe (marked with a red dot in the attached screenshot), and downstream of the pipe,” Koethe said.
