Beaches reopen following sewage spill

Ala Moana Beach Park and Waikiki Beach reopened Wednesday after test results indicated near-shore waters were never affected by sewage gushing into the ocean from Monday’s monster rainstorm.

City officials also revised the estimated amount of sewage that found its way into the ocean — from more than 500,000 gallons to 129,000 gallons.

“Surf’s up, the water looks beautiful, so everybody enjoy the ocean,” city Emergency Services Director Mark Rigg said Wednesday while announcing that the beaches were reopening.

Test results, however, indicated that the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, Kewalo Basin, the canoe launch area adjacent to Ala Wai harbor, the pond and canal along Ala Moana Boulevard, and the western end of Kakaako Waterfront Park were still affected by the spill.

More testing will be conducted in these areas until contaminant levels subside, officials said.

The public was advised to avoid these waters until warning signs are removed. Surfers and boaters were also advised that offshore waters may still be contaminated, particularly near harbor entrances.

In addition, a statewide brown-water advisory, due to the recent rain, is still in effect.

“If the water is brown, please stay out of the water,” Keith Kawaoka, state Department of Health deputy director of environmental health, said at a joint news conference at the Fasi Municipal Building.

City officials said Tuesday that a key pump station that should have been running during heavy rain on Monday morning was inoperable because the contractor in a major construction project at a Keawe Street pump station left the facility offline.

Without the station working, the sewer system was overwhelmed by heavy rain. The back-flow ended up escaping through manholes at the intersection of Atkinson Drive and Ala Moana Boulevard, entering the ocean through storm drains.

Honolulu experienced record rainfall Monday with more than 3 inches of heavy precipitation, according to the National Weather Service.

On Monday and Tuesday, officials conducted water testing of bacteria levels and physical parameters such as salinity at 23 locations, from Kakaako Waterfront Park to the end of Waikiki.

“Based on those results, the indication is that the levels have come down dramatically from yesterday to indicate that we can at least open those beach areas,” Kawaoka said.

He added that contaminants were measured at amounts equivalent to background levels seen when near-shore waters get muddy runoff.

Kawaoka said the reduced levels of bacteria are not surprising considering the natural flushing and currents of the ocean, plus the sunlight.

City Environmental Services Director Lori Kahikina apologized for the spill Wednesday, saying the incident should have never happened.

She said the contractor — working on a larger $175 million construction project — was operating on information that a significant storm would hit not Monday but Wednesday, leaving ample time to attach a steel plate, or blind flange, over the open end of a large T-valve pipe at the Ala Moana No. 2 Pump Station on Keawe Street.

“They miscalculated and that’s completely our fault,” she said. “We should have used an abundance of caution and get that thing done over the weekend.”

As it was, the contractor was notified about the spill at 7 a.m., she said, and workers were able to attach the steel plate in four hours or so, stopping the leak and allowing the activation of a pump station capable of handling 100,000 gallons a day.

The revised estimate of how much sewage escaped Monday morning was 393,000 gallons. However, city crews operating “big sucker trucks” were able to capture 264,000 of those gallons, Kahikina said, and that left an estimated 129,000 gallons to flow to the ocean.

Kahikina said she was scheduled to meet with the city Department of Design and Construction to discuss a breakdown in communication between the two agencies. Design and Construction was in charge of the construction project, while Environmental Services operates the pump station.

“I would like the two departments to have much better communication,” she said. “It starts with my side. My guys need to raise their hand and know what their limitations are. And the DDC needs to talk to their contractor to make sure the work gets done.”

She added: “I apologize for this happening. It never should have.”

Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the city might receive some criticism for posting the warning signs in Waikiki, but the action was done “out of an abundance of caution,” considering the sewage spill and the brown-water advisory.

Hawaii Tourism Authority chief George Szigeti expressed relief that Waikiki didn’t suffer more economic damage due to the sewage spill, which earned nationwide media attention.

He said the hotels in Waikiki reported that they weren’t affected that much.

“Nobody is canceling,” Szigeti said. “There was minimal collateral damage.”

Szigeti said he would be alerting the tourism industry immediately that Waikiki is no longer burdened by the beach closure.

“It will be business as usual tomorrow,” he said.

Caldwell said he, too, was gratified there wasn’t more damage from the spill.

“There’s nothing more important than Waikiki,” he said. “We wanted to make sure this event was over, and it’s over in basically two days.”