Tourists in Hawaii are now swimming in contaminated water

The Kona storm is gone and the beaches are busy for spring break. Although the ocean appears to be close enough to normal conditions, it may not actually be. What many Hawaii travelers don’t realize is that Hawaii is still under a Sewage Spill Advisory, Brown Water Advisory, and High Bacteria Alert for all of Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. An open beach is not the same as the water being safe.

The storm is over. The recommendation did not.

Many travelers will misinterpret this situation because the Department of Health’s advisory does not close Hawaii’s beaches. The state has issued advisories and leaves it up to individuals to decide whether to swim. That seems obvious until you picture a vacationing family gazing out at an open beach, unstopped by barricades and lifeguards, and water that doesn’t seem dangerous by mainland standards. Open does not mean clear. It just means the state is not making the final decision for you.

As of April 1, the Clean Water Branch system still has multiple unpublished advisories related to the recent storm and its aftermath. The state’s general guidelines are to stay away from brown or murky water and wait 48 to 72 hours after the rain stops and beaches are fully exposed to sunlight. If the advisory lasts much longer than that, and visitors clearly assume the danger must be over because the weather has already passed, that guidance will mean little.

Oahu remains at the center of the problem. An island-wide brown water advisory remains in effect as of March 20th. In addition, multiple sewage spill advisories and four high bacterial count advisories have been in effect for the North Shore since March 31st. At Haleiwa Beach Park, 288 enterococcal CFU per 100 mL were detected. Kawaihapai 1 hit 192. Puaena Point Hit 164. Mokuleia 2 hits 137 at Quiapoko Point. The state standard for safe swimming is 130, so none of these measurements are mild.

Oahu’s list of sewage spills is a warning sign in itself. One advisory reports a 115,000 gallon spill at 5311 Kalanianaole Highway is impacting Wailupe Stream and Maunalua Bay from Wailupe Beach Park to Kawaikui Beach Park. The other involves a 30,000-gallon event at Nupia Pond near Kailua. A standing advisory has also been issued for the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant dating back to March 14.

Other public advisories include Puha Stream near Waimanalo Beach, Ahuimanu Stream, Kawa Stream, and several additional locations in Honolulu and East Oahu. Some are listed as in progress. Some list unknown amounts of spills. Some are more than 2 weeks old.

Kauai’s previous island-wide brown water advisory Canceled on March 31st Instead, two localized advisories have been issued, from Nawiliwili to Kalapaki Beach and from Lydgate Beach to Wailua Beach. This covers the main visitor areas, even at a time when weather and beach conditions already seem to be improving for those just getting off the plane.

Maui is also noteworthy, although it only has one public advisory on the list. The advisory applies island-wide, is not tied to any particular estuary or beach park, and remains in effect as of March 16. That poses its own problem for visitors, as Maui may appear to be fully back to normal while the state is still issuing warnings about brown water conditions around the island. Travelers staying in Wailea, Kaanapali, or elsewhere on Maui may never see anything like an active warning unless they go looking for it first.

Only the Big Island is sunny so far. And it shouldn’t be all-clear across the state for other areas. This shows how uneven the risk is from island to island and even from beach to beach on the same day. A trip to Hawaii can feel normal in one location, but have completely different water risks in another, just a plane ride away.

Why visitors might miss this.

This is where Hawaii can fool people, especially mainland travelers. Many visitors are used to swimming in water that isn’t postcard blue. Brownish water is common in many places. That could mean rolled up sand, river runoff, or just a different looking shoreline. It does not automatically notify you of sewage contamination. In Hawaii, brown water can occur after heavy rains and runoff that carries bacteria, debris, chemicals, animal waste, and sewage from overflowing systems into oceans and streams.

That means visitors are seeing beaches that are open, probably crowded, probably sunny, and probably still a little washed out, and doing the same things people do on vacation. The crowd is the signal. An open coastline provides a sense of security, but if the risk is severe, many people would actually expect it to close. That’s the trap.

The spring break timing makes this even worse. People have already paid for the trip. A beach day is a trip. No one wants to spend their Hawaii vacation refreshing the advice page before swimming. As a result, visitors can walk straight through contaminated water without feeling like they’ve ignored a warning. In many cases, they have never seen one.

Water quality information for Hawaii’s beaches is not what most visitors expect.

When brown water advisories are in effect, the tests people most want often don’t happen as expected. The Hawaii Clean Water Division said it is not practical to monitor beaches during brown water advisory events. Brown water advisory events can occur anywhere, testing capacity is limited, and historical data show that fecal bacteria levels commonly exceed thresholds during these events.

Even outside of storm conditions, not all beaches in Hawaii are regularly monitored. The state’s own coastal monitoring program says it’s impossible and impractical to monitor everything. Of Hawaii’s more than 250 beaches, only about 57 are regularly sampled. That leaves a wide gap for beachgoers who assume Hawaii keeps all major swimming spots in check and are choosing between safe and unsafe beaches with limited recent data, widespread storm-related advisories, and no clear picture of the current status of the exact beaches they want to use.

One practical tool worth bookmarking is SafeToSwimHawaii.com, a free site built by Hawaii residents. This site brings together real-time DOH advisory data and Surfrider test results in one place, so you can check the conditions at a particular beach before you hit the water.

The problem is much more than just a storm.

Hawaii’s water quality problems began long before this spill. The state still has about 83,000 cesspools, pumping an estimated 52 million gallons of untreated wastewater underground each day. Heavy rains help move that waste into groundwater, rivers, and coastal marine areas. The storm brought the problem to light again, but it didn’t create the problem.

Visitors don’t come here expecting to think about the sewage system before swimming. Right now, that’s not always the case on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. If there’s an active advisory in place where you’re planning on swimming, don’t ignore yourself just because the beach looks crowded. Don’t think water is okay because it’s a hotel, a crowd, or a sunny afternoon. Check for advisories, stay home after rain, and give the ocean more time than your vacation brain wants.

Have you ever checked the water quality in Hawaii before going into the ocean?