Why Are Hawai‘i's Waters So Laden with Bacteria?
Alongside Surfrider's 2024 Clean Water Report, which produces water sample analyses of hundreds of beaches with the help of volunteers at Surfrider chapters across the greater U.S., the nonprofit organization also put together a Water Quality Report for Hawai'i.
According to the data, seven test sites across O'ahu and Kaua'i showed harmful bacteria levels that exceeded state health standards more than half of the times they were tested by Surfrider's volunteer-based water-testing program, Blue Water Task Force (BWTF). Several of those failed to reach safe levels for human contact more than 80% of the time:
'On Kauaʻi, three BWTF sites located at stream or river mouths (Hanalei River at Weke Rd., Hanamāʻulu Stream Mouth, and Nāwiliwili Stream) failed every single water test performed in 2024,' a Surfrider Hawai'i press release announcing the report reads. 'Similarly, on Oʻahu, the highest bacteria sites are located adjacent to stream mouths. The Chings (Punaluʻu Beach Park) sampling site, near Punaluʻu Stream on East Oʻahu, failed every water quality sample, and Kahaluʻu Beach failed 92% of samples. In our second year of sampling in Waiʻanae with Kingdom Pathways, one of the sites, Kaupuni Stream, is yet again exceeding state health standards consistently, with 80% of samples having failed.'
So where's all that dirty water coming from? 'It is definitely a common misconception—tropical turquoise beaches in a remote island chain = safe water,' Hanna Lilley, Surfrider's Hawai'i Regional Manager who oversaw the report told me, pointing out that it is one of the larger hurdles of public awareness around water-quality issues.
It might be hard to fathom that a string of volcanic rocks out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can't seem to flush and dissipate all its pollution into the surrounding blue expanse, but currents around the island only help so much—and in some cases exacerbate issues—while a continuous flow of sewage and runoff from a population of nearly 1.5 million can perpetually foul the coastline.In its 2024 report, Surfrider cites that sewage pollution from Hawai'i's 83,000 cesspools is among the biggest culprit, as they collectively discharge a daily 52 million gallons into coastal waters. The meta message? While stream mouths can make for shallow, relatively safe nearshore waters free of shorebreak and currents, the water quality near them is almost never safe and can even prove deadly. Granted, this is hardly news—see: Hawaii News Now's 'Hawaii Leads Nation in Deadly Staph Infections.'
Apart from proactively working to inform the public on better environmental practices—like its Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) initiative—helping the public become more aware of unsafe conditions at the beach is also a prerogative. One recent feat saw Surfrider's Maui Chapter help convince the Maui County Ocean Safety Bureau to provide Brown Water Advisory (BWA) signs to lifeguards so that they could place physical warnings of dangerous water quality on beaches where, previously, such warnings were only posted online or on television and radio public service announcements. to warn beachgoers of polluted conditions on the beach after it rains.
The Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) also 'recently agreed to revise their beach monitoring program to continue to test popular Tier 1 beaches when Brown Water Advisories are in effect, thereby providing better water quality information to the public during both dry and wet weather,' Surfrider wrote, considering this a feat, particularly in the face of federal funding cuts slated for Fiscal Year 2026 that could completely cut funding for the EPA's Beach Act Grants program, which supports water quality monitoring and public notifications across 35 states in total and might leave us all 'completely blind to pollution issues at our local beaches'—yikes, indeed.
Surfrider is calling on Congress to reject the Trump administration's proposal to slash funding for the EPA and support robust funding for the BEACH Act and other clean water programs. Everyone deserves to enjoy a fun day at the beach without worrying about getting sick from exposure to pollution. Why Are Hawai'i's Waters So Laden with Bacteria? first appeared on Surfer on Jun 1, 2025
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