The Hawaii State Department of Health Clean Water Branch has issued brown water advisories today for Waimea Bay and Punaluu Beach Park on Oahu.

The advisories warn the public to stay out of brown coastal waters impacted by stormwater runoff after heavy rains, “due to possible overflowing cesspools, sewer, manholes, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, pathogens, chemicals, and associated flood debris.”

The Clean Water Branch does not test brown water for enterococcus, the fecal indicator bacteria commonly found in the presence of pathogens that can cause waterborne illness such as gastroenteritis, because it can be assumed that the bacteria is present in stormwater runoff at levels exceeding the risk threshold of 130 enterococci per 100 milliliters, according to Myron Honda, the branch’s monitoring and analysis section supervisor.

In related news, while the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has been found in sewage and in the feces of some COVID-19 patients, whether it remains infectious in these environments is unknown, according to the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Previous studies of similar viruses and new research on SARS-CoV-2, however, indicate the risk of being exposed through these routes may be low.

“The risk (of transmission from feces) is expected to be low based on data from previous outbreaks of related coronaviruses,” CDC’s website says, and a new study posted in preview form online in the journal Nature found infectious virus in samples taken from throats and lungs, but not in stool samples.

The branch has indefinitely suspended its routine beachwater bacteria sampling and testing due to coronavirus stay-at-home orders, but continues to post brown water and sewage spill alerts on its website at eha-cloud.doh.hawaii.gov/cwb/#!/landing.

The branch also posts cancellations of its advisories on its website, where the public can register to receive notifications via email.