I am writing to bring to your attention the worsening crisis in water quality that we are experiencing in Kauai. A bit of background, first. I am a watershed scientist trained at Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and here on Kauai at the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
While speaking with some ER doctors, I was told that waterborne infections, including staph and leptospirosis, were the No. 1 cause of ER admissions on Kauai. In fact, if a resident of the mainland comes down with a mysterious infection after traveling, they are asked if their travels included Hawaii. If so, they are immediately put on oral or IV antibiotics as needed. I thought only travelers returning from Africa were subject to such protocols!
Being a watershed scientist and privileged to work in one of the most pristine watersheds in the state, Limahuli, but living near several suspect streams like Kalihiwai and Hanalei, I asked about what sort of water-quality testing was being done. What I heard shocked me!
Apparently the Hawaii state Department of Health is so underfunded they intentionally test at times and places least likely to record a violation of state water-quality and health standards, so that they won’t find any issues that they don’t have the budget to address anyway.
This was reported to me off-line by former state inspectors, county officials, Surfrider Foundation members, local surfers and fishers, local business owners and residents.
After the catastrophic flooding of April 14-15, 2018, I noticed many tourists swimming in brown water at Anini Beach and Hanalei beaches.
There were no brown-water notices anywhere, and families were swimming in brown water over their heads, without any clue that they were swimming in waters more toxic and unhealthful than most streams in Africa. Predictably, there was a spike in ER visits by both tourists and residents alike, and we will never know the true death and injury toll from this disaster.
That this can happen in a first world country like the United States, in a paradisiacal location like the Hawaiian Islands, with so many tourism dollars and vacation rental dollars flowing in, is truly a scandal. Why is DOH not better funded so that they can properly enforce state water-quality and health regulations?
Why is there a shortfall of funding for water testing and cleanup amidst record tourist and vacation-rental-industry dollars pouring into the state?
Some local cynics believe that the Hawaii Tourism Authority is to blame. The thinking goes that HTA is so afraid that tourists and tour operators will find out how bad Hawaii’s water quality is that they will cancel trips to Hawaii. If this is true, this is both short-sighted and negligent in the extreme.
How long before mainland papers pick up on this issue? A call to the local emergency room is all that is needed. A few articles in the LA Times, Japan Times and San Francisco Chronicle are all that is needed to hit the tourism industry right between the eyes.
Yet this need not be so.
After the flood, a group of local residents, businesses and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) teamed up with the County of Kauai to address the pressing issue of traffic and the impact of 3,000 tourist cars on the North Shore. They received a $1 million grant with more to follow to plan and implement a park-and-ride system with shuttles, parking lots and online reservations. This is laudable and provides both a model and hope that water quality can similarly be addressed.
As we know, floods of the magnitude we experienced last April are, thanks to ongoing climate change, going to become more and more frequent. With the minimum sea-level rise forecast to be 3.2 feet, much of Hanalei and the North Shore will experience regular inundation at high tides and during storms, if not constantly.
During the April floods I witnessed several septic tanks floating in Hanalei Bay, and I became determined to help change things so that the waters of my adopted home became no longer toxic for residents, tourists and wildlife.
I am encouraged to hear that Gov. David Ige has convened a Storm and Waste Water Task Force to look at precisely these issues. I am encouraged that HTA has a new chair who understands the importance of Hawaii’s ecological and cultural resources in the competition for tourist dollars that otherwise might go to cheaper shores elsewhere. I am encouraged that new Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami is committed to addressing this issue.
Now the challenge is for all citizens of Kauai to work together to make sure adequate wastewater and stormwater systems are implemented in communities countywide and statewide.
Certain communities, such as Hanalei, require a sophisticated sewage pumping and treatment plan to get sewage above the flood-zone and to a proper treatment facility. I understand that Princeville may be willing to help with this given funding and governmental assistance and cooperation.
Other more remote areas require self-contained, de-centralized and scalable solutions such as “Bill Gates toilets,” anaerobic septic or similar low-cost, low-maintenance, flood-proof, closed-loop systems.
To get full implementation there will need to be additional funding. Perhaps the HTA could advocate the Legislature for an obligatory airline ticket fee, with a waiver system for Hawaii state residents, similar to that employed to fund Houston’s Enron Field, to help pay for new sewage treatment plants, next-gen septic systems and adequate testing and conservation management.
Perhaps parking and entrance fees to state parks could be boosted, again with an exemption for state residents, to help pay for clean water and transportation. To get full compliance perhaps there could be changes in excise and income tax codes to reward residents and businesses who quickly comply with new and existing regulations, and to penalize scofflaws.
Either way, papers like The Garden Island hold the key to building public awareness and determination to fix this crisis that affects us all, particularly children and the elderly and anyone with compromised immune systems, not to mention local fish and wildlife, and the consumers who depend on local fish and fowl. I hope that the editors and readers will all join hands to make this happen.
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John B. (Jack) Sculley, Ph.D., is affiliated with the Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology, National Tropical Botanical Garden, and Archipelago Center for Science and Sustainability.
It seems that Mr. Sculley’s remarks are addressing storm water and septic system issues. Hopefully they do not apply to Kauai,municipal drinking water, or even rural well water.
Whoa, let’s listen to this man, who appears both to have requisite knowledge to address our water issues and the heart and mind to advocate for improvement.
Sounds to me like he is talking about the storm run off………..I can’t believe these people are swimming in brown water (although I see lots of watercraft on the Wialua river right after a storm when the water is dirt brown, so who knows). Growing up back east, we were taught as kids not to swim in brown water and oh yea, not to eat the yellow snow……
This is all very sound advisory concerning this very real health issue. I don’t believe that the tourism industry should bear all of the costs of solving or dealing with this problem. Taxes or fees are also a responsibility of the populace of Kauai to some extent.
Patrick Flores, Wailua Houselots.
Shouldn’t there be someone and/or a department in the Board of Health arena of the State of Hawaii with the credentials and the academic expertise dealing with watershed concerns here in Hawaii? Here we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and I would think that our powers-that-be would be cognizant of focusing the appropriate priorities and procedures to provide water safety and quality for our residents and visitors. Shouldn’t watershed councils become voluntary community groups which can enhance and support such concerns and considerations? Sincerely, MrB