LIHUE — The state Department of Health is urging people to stay out of Wailua River and Bay following a landslide near Mount Waialeale earlier this week.
The department has issued a Brown Water Advisory for the area due to possible dead animals, fecal matter, broken trees, overflowing cesspools, herbicide and/or pesticides in the water.
Curtis and Denise Ray of Lower Michigan didn’t plan on swimming Wednesday after viewing the polluted water, but they still wanted to venture out.
“After spending three days at the beach, we needed something different,” Curtis Ray said as they launched at the Kaumualii State Park. “We rented the kayak for an hour to paddle on the river. We’re not even planning to get to the (Secret) Falls, or get in the water.”
The Surfrider Foundation Kauai Chapter reportedly notified DOH’s Clean Water Branch late Tuesday that the Wailua River was turbid, despite very little rain in the area.
CWB staff went out to determine source cause of turbid waters and later received information from the Kauai County Public Information Office of the apparent landslide, according to the advisory.
County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said Rescue 3 responded to a rescue of an injured hiker along the Na Pali Coast around 6 p.m. Tuesday. After airlifting the woman to medics at Waimea Canyon Ballpark, the team flew over the landslide area and observed the after effects.
“Rescuers took the video in order to notify county officials,” Blane wrote in an email. “The county then sent the video to state (Department of Land and Natural Resources) and DOH, as we were concerned that a landslide of this magnitude could cause water quality issues for the Wailua River and surrounding areas.”
After viewing the footage, DOH confirmed the slide was the likely source or turbid waters downhill and issued the BWA, according to Blane.
She said the county did not have an estimate of the size of the affected area, and that aside from the DOH warning there were no other reports of persons or property being affected.
Attempts to contact the DLNR Wednesday were not successful.
A modified brown water advisory also remained in effect Wednesday for coastal waters from Moloaa Bay to Anahola Bay due to a mysterious brownish-green plume, reportedly a bloom of a certain species of cyanobacteria.
• Chris D’Angelo, environment writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cdangelo@thegardenisland.com.
