State defends pollution testing
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
A state Health Department official is disputing a report released this week by the Natural Resources Defense Council that claims Hawai'i does not adequately monitor the quality of water at popular tourist beaches.
"Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches," said 14 Hawai'i beaches were among 55 popular coastal spots around the country where water quality is not properly checked.
Lawrence Lau, the Health Department's deputy director for environmental health, said the state's water-quality monitoring program is aggressive and in many cases exceeds federal standards.
Lau said the state regularly checks the most popular beach sites and keeps tabs on about 130 other beaches around the state. It has a rotating monitoring system in which about 40 beaches are checked at a time.
The defense council report agrees that Hawai'i's water-quality standards are among the highest in the nation, though it charges the state does not always close beaches when testing shows bacterial counts exceed limits.
Both the report and Lau said Hawai'i's tropical soils can contain bacteria used as indicators in some tests, and these can result in positive test results even when water quality is not compromised.
"My concern is that we are being unfairly shown as worse than we are," Lau said.
The report did not allege that Hawai'i beaches are not safe, just that some are not tested regularly, do not have a program to notify the public when standards are violated, and have a known source of pollution, such as storm water or sewage.
The listed beaches are at one portion of Hilo Bay and at Spencer Beach on the Big Island; Ke'ehi Lagoon, Diamond Head and Sunset beaches on O'ahu; Wailua, Kapa'a, Kealia and Kalihiwai Bay beaches on Kaua'i; and the southern part of D.T. Fleming, Kama'ole II, Keawakapu, Olowalu and the Old Airport beaches near Ka'anapali on Maui.
Lau said even at beaches that are not checked regularly, the Department of Health posts notices and samples the water whenever there is a sewage spill or other event that might affect water quality before removing signs. "I think our beaches are safe," he said.
New York led the "bum beaches" list with 19, Hawai'i was next at 14, followed by Michigan with 12. Other states listed included Washington, Connecticut, Virginia and Wisconsin and Puerto Rico.
Nancy Stoner, the clean water project director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said water monitoring is improving across the nation, although water quality is not. The report said more than 12,000 U.S. beaches were closed because of dirty water last year, with California and Florida having the most closures. A dozen of the closures were in Hawai'i, at beaches that are regularly monitored and those that are not.
Reach Jan Tenbruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or 245-3074.
