Shower runoff said to sully beaches

Wastewater is flowing across the sand and sidewalks and into the ocean along a popular stretch of beach, exposing unwitting beachgoers to potentially dangerous bacteria, an environmental watchdog alleges.

EnviroWatch Inc. President Carroll Cox lodged a complaint June 19 with the Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch against the city, alleging it has been unlawfully discharging wastewater generated by its outdoor showers on Kuhio Beach for years, ignoring a Health Department notice from five years ago.

He said he’s witnessed people shampooing, lathering up with soap and washing off suntan lotion, urinating, washing babies and rinsing diapers at the showers. “People are walking through it, not knowing what it is,” he said.

The complaint alleges this violates the federal Clean Water Act.

The state Clean Water Branch said it “has anecdotal evidence that the shower waters may be degrading the receiving waters.”

“The DOH Clean Water Branch will be reevaluating the issue, contacting the responsible property owner to discuss solutions, and considering options which could include implementing best practices to reduce discharges,” the Health Department said in an email response to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The agency cited shoreline erosion and use of soap as reasons to consider regulating shower water discharge.

The Clean Water Branch said beach showers are provided to allow ocean users “to rinse off, not for bathing with soaps, or to be used as laundry or sink facilities.” Because of that, it has historically taken the position not to regulate the shower discharges, though it encourages the agencies providing the showers “to allow for percolation or other non-obtrusive practice.”

“We have evidence that the shower water discharges at multiple locations throughout the island/state, and the best practice is for the shower water to be disposed of through drywells/French drains, etc.,” the agency said.

A city lifeguard named Chris, stationed in Waikiki from 2014 to 2015, said he contracted MRSA — the flesh-eating bacteria — and staph and strep infections from Waikiki showers. He declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals.

He said he’s seen homeless people defecate and wash soiled pants at the showers. He said he’s seen feces floating in the same ponding water where children would swim.

He and other lifeguards have had to dig trenches to drain the water away from the showers.

Chris said other lifeguards and members of the public have also been sickened.

Although the lifeguards complained to various city and state agencies, nothing has been done.

“I just don’t want anybody to die from it,” he said.

Cox said he has been looking into the matter for a couple of years but recently discovered the DOH Wastewater Branch had investigated a complaint five years ago regarding wash water from outdoor showers overflowing onto the beach and into the ocean on Kuhio Beach extending from the Waikiki police substation to the Kapahulu Groin.

Cox alleges the problem extends farther — from Queen’s Surf to the Kapahulu Groin — and suggests the water drain into the city sewer system instead of a dry well since the volume and rate of wastewater generated cannot percolate fast enough.

He opined the city was “emboldened” by DOH’s involvement and failure to enforce any laws. The city “has concluded your bark is bigger than your bite, as evidenced in their willingness to continue unlawfully discharging wastewater, polluting the environment and exposing innocent beachgoers to wastewater.”

The city, in a written response to the Star-Advertiser, said, “The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has continued to maintain the sand traps near these showers as best as we can. The cleaning of these sand traps is labor intensive and is done by hand so that the water can properly flow into the dry wells.”

In an email, department spokesman Nathan Serota said, “DPR has been working with the Department of Facility Maintenance and a consultant on the best approach for addressing this situation. We urge the public to please refrain from clogging the sand trap with any foreign objects. This further exacerbates the problem.”

On Sept. 20, 2012, then acting Wastewater Branch chief Sina Pruder issued a warning notice to the parks department, informing the city of a formal complaint regarding wash water from five outdoor showers along Kuhio Beach from the Kapahulu Groin to the police substation.

“Causing or allowing any wastewater system on your property to create or contribute to a wastewater spill (including shower wash water discharges) is a violation of Section 11-62-06(g), Hawaii Administrative Rules,” the notice said. Discharging any water pollutant into state waters or to cause or allow any water pollutant to enter state waters is prohibited under state law.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said that at the time Wastewater Branch officials discussed the matter with the Attorney General’s Office and found they did not have jurisdiction because wastewater rules apply to wastewater that is used with equipment attached to a building.

Because the outdoor showers are equipped with a sand trap connected to a dry well but not to a building, they did not have grounds to enforce the rules, she said.