LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Chapter of Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force has completed water quality sampling for August, with a limited set of data due to the pandemic. The task force isn’t using volunteers to collect samples during the COVID-19 pandemic and samples are being taken by Surfrider member and Blue Water Task Force coordinator John Alderete, and senior scientist Carl Berg.
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Chapter of Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force has completed water quality sampling for August, with a limited set of data due to the pandemic. The task force isn’t using volunteers to collect samples during the COVID-19 pandemic and samples are being taken by Surfrider member and Blue Water Task Force coordinator John Alderete, and senior scientist Carl Berg.
The values in red on the graph of sampling results exceed Hawai‘i state standards of 130 organisms per 100 ml for a single sample and 35 organisms per 100 ml for a geometric mean of 5 or more samples.
As is usual on Kaua‘i, most sites at or near rivers, streams, or canals, showed high bacterial counts — Waiopili Stream tested well above 1000 bacterial organisms per 100 mls of tested sample (4,884).
Typically, our surf and beach sites are mostly clean. Alderete said this was true for August sampling, with one exception: Niumalu Beach Park tested above the desired levels — at 345 bacteria/100 mls of water in the single-day results.
“We always recommended that sites consistently above the statistical threshold value should be posted with caution signs,” Alderete said in a discussion of the August results. “Sites where the geometric mean are in the thousands are badly polluted with fecal indicating bacteria.”
Alderete further cautioned the public to be aware of Brown Water Advisories from the Department of Health, as brown water can be a sign of runoff with increased pollution.
