KUALOA — The beach at landmark Kualoa Regional Park could be closed to swimming, boating and fishing for as long as a year as the city replaces the park's wastewater system to address persistent contamination into the ocean.

The impact is starting to show. The lifeguards are gone and there are fewer campsites.

"It's just an awful signal it sends to tourists when beaches are closed," said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter.

The problem underscores that what happens on the land affects the water, he said, adding that it's a sad state of affairs when beach parks close because of bacteria contamination.

Kualoa is a popular camping park where protective reefs keep the beach safe for young children.

It also is an ancient sacred place. Chiefs brought their children here to be trained as rulers and learn the traditions of their heritage. In deference to the sacredness of Kualoa, canoes passing by were required to lower their sails.

Mokoli'i Islet, nicknamed Chinaman's Hat, lies offshore.

Many important cultural programs have been held there, including the landing of the Hokule'a and makahiki.

The restrooms at the park haven't worked well for almost a decade. The city has had to pump out the system regularly, and according to a state investigation, none of the restrooms works up to code.

State officials said the ocean ban will remain in effect until the city makes improvements that may take a year or more, which would make the beach closing one of the longest in recent memory.

The ban is in its third month.

The mayor has requested money to redo the wastewater system, but the money, if approved, won't be available until July. The project could be delayed even longer because of Hawaiian burials at the site.

The city had allocated about $700,000 and was ready to build a new wastewater system in 2000, but Hawaiian groups objected because the project required digging in sacred ground.

Working together, it took the the city and community a year to agree on an above-ground system that required only 2 inches of digging. But in 2002 the city scrapped the project, saying it would involve more digging.

Wayne Panoke, with the Kualoa-He'eia Hawaiian Civic Club, said any new plan would mean repeating the process. The community would be involved and some of the same issues discussed five years ago would be discussed again, Panoke said.

"When we finally agreed upon just to dig 2 inches down, it took us over one year," he said.

The decision to stop weekend lifeguard service at Kualoa was agonizing, said Jim Howe, operations chief with the city Ocean Safety Division. Howe told the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board last week that the department had to balance health issues over the public's safety and wanted to send a strong message.

"At this point we don't want to give the public the impression that anybody should be swimming there," Howe said, adding that the division will reconsider its decision weekly.

City parks officials said because of the closure, camping permits have been reduced, people are canceling campouts, and school programs are affected.

But the park is still open, said Bill Brennan, city spokesman.

Of the 30 campsites, 14 are open, none in campsite A where a restroom has been closed, Brennan said.

People applying for permits are being told about the warning signs and the number of requests has dropped, he said.

"We'll continue to watch the water quality and hope the source of the bacteria is determined and adjust accordingly," Brennan said.

Early in December the state posted temporary warning signs against entering the water near the first restroom at Kualoa park. But continued high counts of bacteria, blamed on the city's wastewater system there, prompted the state to install permanent metal warning signs by the end of January. The signs are along the whole shore of the park.

The state said the signs won't come down until it's safe.

"If no improvements are done the signs just stay up," said Watson Okubo, chief for the monitoring and analysis section of the state Department of Health. He said some people thought the houses to the north of the park were contributing to the problem, and they are, but the real problem comes from the park.

"When you see the kind of numbers we've seen, it has to be a high-volume operation," Okubo said, who explained the situation to the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board in January.

Mikulina, of the Sierra Club, disagreed with a ban on all water activity at the park.

He said residents should make their own informed decisions. People should be warned and then allowed to go in the water at their own risk, Mikulina said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.