HONOLULU (KHON2) — Two Hawaii beaches are among the most polluted in the country, and 13 more have unsafe bacteria levels more often than not, according to an annual report by the Surfrider Foundation, who wants beachgoers to be aware of what they’re getting into.
Kyla Genenbacher came to the beach to enjoy the weather and have a phone date with her boyfriend back home. But she wasn’t expecting this.
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“This was my first time to this park and I was not prepared for… I walked up and I was like ‘oh is it like a black sand beach you know, but I was like I don’t think we have those here,” Genenbacher said.
The water at Waiahole Beach looks dirty, and testing shows it is. It’s one of the beaches highlighted in the Surfrider Foundation’s annual water quality report.
The group’s Blue Water Task Force tests 600 sites across the country, 83 sites on Oahu, Maui and Kauai regularly for enterococcus levels. Oahu’s beaches are tested biweekly, with Maui and Kauai beaches being tested monthly.
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Waiahole tested unsafe more than 68 percent of the time. Nearby Kahaluu Beach was unsafe in 92 precent of tests.
“When it rains, it gets washed into the streams, the streams bring it to the oceans,” said Dr. Dan Amato, Surfrider Foundation Blue Water Task Force coordinator. “So we generally recommend not swimming or playing or letting your family recreate in stream mouths in particular, cause they tend to be high in fecal indicator bacteria.”
Enterococcus is a fecal bacteria that indicates the presence of human or animal waste in the water coming from upstream. Amato says fecal matter could come from wild pigs, dogs, cats, birds and humans via cesspools.
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“I think it’s disgusting,” Genenbacher said. “I mean there’s not much you can do about it but I definitely wouldn’t swim here, I definitely think people need to know about it.”
Kahaluu Beach is among the worst in the country. But the Surfrider Foundation says they found more beaches on the that are cause for concern. They say during their testing, 7 beaches on Oahu tested with higher than safe bacteria levels more than 50 percent of the time.
In a statement the state Department of Health, who oversees water testing in the state, said people can subscribe to get water quality advisories and get updates on their social media pages.
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“In the grand scheme of things, it’s not enough,” Amato said. “I think the public really needs a little more awareness. We’d love to see more signage at these beaches that people are using that we know are chronically impacted by fecal indicator bacteria.”
DOH says it is working with county officials on doing just that. So everyone going into the water can make their own decisions.
“If you were to go swimming, the plan? The plan if I was going swimming is to keep driving, find a different beach, not this one,” Genenbacher said.
For a link to the full report, visit Surfrider’s website.
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