HONOLULU The Hawaii Department of Health will try to track down the source of pollution that an environmental group detected in a Kauai stream.
The Surfrider Foundation’s Blue Water Task Force took water samples earlier this year from Waiopili Stream in Mahaulepu in an attempt establish baseline water data ahead of construction of a possible dairy farm.
The samples detected “extreme” levels of enterococcus bacteria, which indicate fecal contamination, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
Surfrider member Carl Berg said the state limit for clean inland waters is 33 bacteria per 100 milliliters. If five samples average more than 33 bacteria, the water is considered polluted.
Samples that Surfrider collected found 8,806 bacteria per 100 milliliters.
“That is egregious,” he said. “That’s way too high.”
The Health Department’s Clean Water Branch plans to collect samples Nov. 5 and 6. The agency has obtained permission from the area’s landowner, Grove Farm Co. Inc., to conduct a sanitation survey of the Mahaulepu watershed.
“We are working with the Department of Health to find out what may be causing the high bacteria counts,” said Grove Farm Vice President Marissa Sandblom.
Watson Okubo, monitoring and analysis supervisor of the Clean Water Branch, said the agency will “look at anything and everything.”
“We know there’s a good population of feral pigs there,” he said. “That could be the source. We don’t see any human habitation there.”
The stream is more of a drainage way that’s usually dry, he said, but it’s flowing this year because of rains.
Surfrider Foundation got involved out of concern that Hawaii Dairy Farm’s proposed animal-feeding operation in Mahaulepu could be a new source of pollution, Berg said.
Hawaii Dairy Farms in July announced a two-step approach for a proposed 578-acre farm. The first would bring in 650 to 699 cows. The second phase would expand the number of cattle to 2,000.