Letters for August 2, 2016

Letters for August 2, 2016

Show respect when representing state 

To quote Lee Cataluna, (Star-Adveriser, Friday, July 29), “It is the responsibility of the party to make sure their representatives are honorable, dignified and respectful, not kicking up dirt like donkeys. You can be an activist without being an ass.”  

Are these the kinds of new arrivals Kauai had been getting lately from the Mainland? 

Rudy L. Sina 

Lihue 

Protect resources, warn people of pollution 

I was relieved to read The Garden Island front page article about warning signs needed at Maha’ulepu on Saturday, July 30. Thankfully, the EPA has stepped in to respond to the extremely high fecal bacteria level we have all read about for more than two years. 

It is good to know that families, especially with young children, and visitors to our island are soon to be warned and protected. I also read the DOH Sanitary Survey and water quality testing done by USGS. The stream waters in question are not only polluted by fecal bacteria but the USGS confirmed in October 2015 what Surfrider, Blue Water Task Force, found and reported to the State DOH in July 2014. 

These surveys found that the stream was also polluted with twice the state’s permitted limit for nitrates, phosphorus and other fertilizer nutrients. 

The proposed Hawaii Dairy Farms operation in Maha’ulepu is going to make this problem much worse. In their draft Environmental Impact Statement the dairy farm’s hydrologist identifies an extensive ditch network running through their pastures which drains water that would otherwise collect on the surface of the clay soil composite that makes up 80 percent of the total farm acreage. 

All the ditches drain into two large agricultural ditches on site which then empty into the Waiopili ditch which becomes the Waiopili Stream which then flows across the beach and into the ocean at Maha’ulepu. It is easy to understand why organizations like Friends of Maha’ulepu and Surfrider are very concerned about the environmental impact of a large herd of dairy cows upstream from the beach. 

I have to agree with Alan White in his recent letter to the editor published Saturday, July 30, as someone who loves and lives on Kauai. I, too, appreciate Surfrider and Friends of Mahaulepu’s effort to stop the dairy from coming and prevent even more dangerous pollutants from flowing onto the beach at Maha’ulepu, compounding what is already draining down that stream onto a very popular beach. 

Respectfully, 

Richard Russell 

Koloa