Gunky, rodent-filled brown water caused by last weekend’s storm has kept untold thousands of people out of the ocean and cost Haleiwa’s Surf N Sea revenue in the form of lost kayak and stand-up paddleboard rentals.
"People have been coming in to rent, and we take ’em out back to show them the conditions," said Christian Schaber, Surf N Sea’s dive shop manager. "It’s definitely brown and we’ve definitely lost business."
The upside is that tourists smart enough not to go out into the murky, brown ocean have been spending a bit more time — and money — inside the store buying apparel and other merchandise, Schaber said.
The state Department of Health has issued a brown-water advisory for the North Shore of Oahu and the west side of Maui that’s designed to keep people out of the water for the next three days or so.
The National Weather Service forecast wet weather to last into Tuesday, giving way to more reliable tradewind weather late Tuesday and into Wednesday.
On Monday health officials identified brown-water conditions in West Maui around Fleming Beach and on the North Shore of Oahu from Kualoa Ranch to Haleiwa.
There are no water monitors on Molokai or Lanai, said Watson Okubo, supervisor for the Health Department’s monitoring and analysis section.
But "knowing Lanai," Okubo said, "it’s probably got red water around the whole island. That’s pretty normal after a storm because on Lanai it’s either dry or wet. Nothing in between."
The Health Department does not have brown-water warning signs to post across the islands and is relying on county lifeguards and smart water people like the employees at Surf N Sea to keep folks out of murky seas.
The danger is that the weekend storm that was triggered by the remnants of Tropical Depression Wali — the first storm of the hurricane season — likely cleared dead animals from the mountains and dumped them into mucky waters, which could attract sharks, Okubo said.
As a kid on Oahu, Okubo once saw sharks dining on the remains "of a large pig after a storm event," he said.
The latest runoff problem was compounded in Kaneohe when the storm overran the Kaneohe pump transfer station at about 3 a.m. Sunday and caused an unknown amount of raw sewage to pour into Kaneohe Bay.
"The guy on duty was in 3 to 5 feet of water," Okubo said. "It was a big flow."
Health officials issued a sewage spill warning from Makani Kai Marina to Kaneohe Yacht Club that also is expected to remain in effect for the next few days, Okubo said.
"We need a lot of sunny weather to kill the bugs," he said.
Also Monday, 10 gallons of raw sewage poured out of the sewer system on Nimitz Highway.
The first storm of the young hurricane season had been preceeded by a long, dry period, Okubo said.
"When that happens," he said, "a lot of stuff comes down from the mountains. That’s what you can expect."
