{"id":450,"date":"2026-05-22T08:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2026-05-22T08:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T08:34:51","slug":"new-water-quality-report-shows-more-chronic-coastal-water-pollution-in-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"New water quality report shows more chronic coastal water pollution in Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Three beach areas in Hawaii have the dubious distinction of being among the top ten coastal areas in the U.S. with the highest rates of bacteria that exceed recreational health standards.<\/p>\n

Read more Rutgers: Hawaii is not ready to legalize gambling due to insufficient information<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to the latest National Clean Water Report from the Surfrider Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have volunteers that go out and they sample our coastal waters for this fecal indicator called enterococcus,\u201d said Hanna Lilley, the Hawaii regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it is present in high concentrations, that indicates that there might be other harmful pathogens that can get you sick,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Punaluu Beach Park on Oahu and the Moloaa Stream mouth on Kauai also made that list. Both locations exceeded recreational health standards for fecal bacterial in 100% of samples collected last year. <\/p>\n

A third location, the Hakipuu Boat Ramp near Kualoa, exceeded standards 82% of the time, according to the report.<\/p>\n

In its 2025 Hawaii Water Quality Report, the Surfrider Foundation said there were 24 sampling sites statewide that didn\u2019t meet recreational health standards more than 50% of the times they were tested.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often view Hawaii as this paradise with pristine, aquamarine waters,\u201d said Lilley. \u201cUnfortunately that\u2019s not often the case, and our data paints this concerning picture of chronic pollution across Hawaii\u2019s coastal waters.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Surfrider Foundation blames cesspools as one of the greatest threats to water quality in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cHawaii has the highest number of cesspools per capita in the entire nation,\u201d said Lilley. \u201cApproximately 83,000 cesspools and an estimated 50 million gallons a day of untreated sewage are going into our groundwater and ultimately the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state has mandated that all cesspools be removed by the year 2050.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to work on those cesspool conversions,\u201d said Dr. Nyssa Silbiger, an associate professor at the Department of Oceanography at U.H.-Manoa. \u201cWe need to maintain the pollution up in the mountains. We need to maintain pollution out of our streams and our groundwater because that\u2019s really going to affect our reef.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Silbiger helped spearhead a project that collected nearly 800 samples of coastal water in the weekend after last March\u2019s kona storms. While the research isn\u2019t complete, it has found that polluted freshwater from the storms remained close to the coast longer than expected, which Silbiger said is bad news.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that I think about this, sadly, is a preview. A preview of what\u2019s to come. And these storms are going to be getting more intense with climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can expect to see worsening water quality in coming years, un fortunately, as climate-driven impacts like sea level rise, flooding and more intense storm events further exacerbate Hawaii\u2019s wastewater challenges,\u201d said Lilley.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Just blessed\u2019: Kapolei\u2019s Amisone helps Hurricanes to inaugural DII flag football title<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Hawaii beaches made a national top ten list for high bacterial counts that exceeded recreational health standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNew water quality report shows more chronic coastal water pollution in Hawaii - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New water quality report shows more chronic coastal water pollution in Hawaii - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three Hawaii beaches made a national top ten list for high bacterial counts that exceeded recreational health standards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T08:34:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"New water quality report shows more chronic coastal water pollution in Hawaii\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T08:34:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/390ed111cac004d47a9ccfcc7fc31a61.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=450\",\"name\":\"New water quality report shows more chronic coastal water pollution in Hawaii - 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