NRDC: Kaua‘i beaches dirty

LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i still has the dirtiest beaches in the state, according to the most recent “Testing the Waters” report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

While the state ranked fifth in the national water quality analysis, “year-after-year” Kaua‘i is reported as having the most beaches with bacteria levels above national safety standards, said Dr. Carl Berg of the Kaua‘i Chapter of Surfrider Foundation’s Blue Water Task Force.

The island’s ocean waters had bacteria counts exceeding safety levels 7 percent of the time, followed by O‘ahu at 3 percent and Maui and the Big Island at 2 percent, according to the 2009 NRDC report. The nonprofit obtains its data from samples acquired by the state Department of Health.

Two county beaches — Hanama‘ulu Beach Park and Kalihiwai Bay — held the third and fourth highest bacteria exceedance rates in Hawai‘i at around 20 percent, the report says. This means those waters were polluted approximately one of every six days, according to Berg.

Many of the beaches across the island known to harbor large quantities of bacteria, such as Kekaha, were not included in the report this year, Berg said.

The NRDC’s figures do not account for fresh water sources such as Nawiliwili Stream — which feeds into Kalapaki Bay and as such is commonly known as Kalapaki Stream — that harbors chronically elevated levels of enterococcus, a bacteria indicating the presence of human or animal feces, he said.

Volunteers from Kaua‘i Surfrider routinely collect water from about 20 different stations across Kaua‘i. They processed a total of 166 samples testing for bacterial counts last year. Each of the 12 samples collected throughout 2009 at Kalapaki exceeded public health safety guidelines, he said.

“The state needs to post warning signs and then define the source of the pollutants,” Berg said. Tests have to be conducted to determine whether human sewage is the reason for the contamination in these areas, he added.

There are some 8,900 cesspools — dry wells or pits which leach untreated liquid sewage into the ground — across the island, largely residential, according to Tom See of the Environmental Management Division of the DOH Wastewater Branch.

Only heavily used beaches are regularly sampled, according to Deputy Director for Environmental Health Laurence Lau.

“We would like to do more monitoring,” he said, but due to the budget deficit the Clean Water Branch has recently had to cut back on four O‘ahu monitoring staff.

“We are careful about warning based only on test results because of confounding factors in Hawai‘i,” he said. “Rainfall and resulting runoff historically has caused high bacteria levels at certain beaches without sewage contamination.”

Non-human sources and soil can create high levels of enterococcus as well, Lau said. And the indicator bacteria does not necessarily “make people sick.”

Pathogens from polluted waters cause illnesses such as vomiting, headache, fever, sore throat, diarrhea, skin, ear, eye and respiratory infections, according to the NRDC.

The DOH “looks forward to better and faster testing methods in the future,” Lau said.

“The magnitude of the problem is large, but with an increasing population (more sewage) and increased public recreational use of our waters, the public health risk is only going to increase,” Berg said.

The County of Kaua‘i Charter, Article II states in part that the government entity is responsible for promoting the general welfare, safety and health of the community. Water pollution issues should have been addressed decades ago, he said.

“They should be warning the public,” Berg said.

County spokesperson Mary Daubert deferred responses to a list of questions to the DOH.

“Of course we care about water quality at our beaches, and we stand ready to assist the DOH in placing signs or implementing any other mitigation measures that their testing calls for,” she said.

“The people of Kaua‘i spend a large amount of time, year-round, on the beaches and in the water,” Berg said. “To maintain public health, we cannot have polluted waters.”

• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.