Pearl Harbor And Off Shore Swimming And Fishing Waters Increasingly Polluted By Sewage Spills
WARNINGS NOT HEEDED - INSPECTIONS NOT DONE
Honolulu Harbor Molasses Fish Kill Spill Was A Repeat
Of Maui Harbor Spill Ten Years Earlier...
With increasing regularity and ever larger accidental spills, the waters in and around Pearl Harbor are becoming more and more potentially dangerous for swimming and especially for taking shoreline creatures for food.
THREE wastewater bypass incidents -318,000 gallons- at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam within just the past three months...
Is there an emerging pattern here? It certainly appears the problem is getting more frequent and larger all the time... July, 2013, 18,000 gallons, and September, 2013, 300,000 gallons, all spewed offshore, 1.5 miles so it is "safe" - it was caused in both cases by "a large amount of solids that clogged the sand filtration system."
Does this not indicate something is WRONG with their waste water treatment system- or will this just become normal practice in the future because it is "safe" at 1.5 miles off shore, where currents will carry it to the Leeward Coast and off shore waters there...
HISTORY SHOWS THESE ACCIDENTS KEEP GETTING REPEATED
Officials say 300,000 gallons of treated sewage released into Mamala Bay
The Navy says the public should not be concerned. The sewage was treated and was only missing the polishing sand filtration process. They say it was caused by a large amount of solids that clogged the sand filtration system.
Officials say it was released through a pipe that extends 1.5 miles off shore.
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam has reported off two partial treatment bypasses
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii's Wastewater Treatment Plant at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam has reported that a clogged sand filtration polishing system touched off two partial bypasses — one last night and one today — at the effluent sand filtration system overflow weir.
During the bypass incidents, the plant discharged a total of about 18,000 gallons of fully treated and disinfected secondary effluent through its deep multiport outfall without polishing effluent sand filtration.
Sewage spill Sunday fouls Pearl Harbor waters
By Star-Advertiser staff
Feb 20, 2012
The state Department of Health's Clean Water Branch is warning the public to stay out of waters near the Fort Kamehameha wastewater treatment plant outfall after a sewage spill Sunday night.
About 70,000 gallons of partially treated sewage was accidentally discharged in Mamala Bay near the entrance of Pearl Harbor near the reef runway, the department said.
A tripped circuit breaker at 9:45 p.m. at the Fort Kamehameha wastewater plant led to the discharge of the effluent from an outfall pipe 1.5 miles from shore.
The Health Department said the effluent had undergone secondary treatment and disinfection, but did not go through sand filtration.
Pearl Harbor sewage spill prompts warnings
Nov. 23, 2010
HONOLULU — The state Department of Health is warning divers to avoid the water around Pearl Harbor's Pier Mike 1 after thousands of gallons of sewage spilled in a storm drain that empties into harbor.
The department says a sewer line ruptured near the pier on Sunday. Authorities were able to contain and vacuum 12,500 gallons but 4,200 gallons entered the storm drain.
The department says military personnel and private contractors should postpone diving activities in the area for a few days until bacteria levels return to normal.
Sewage spill closes Pearl Harbor canal
Feb 05, 2011 HONOLULU HawaiiNewsNow
A sewage spill Friday has caused the state Department of Health to issue a warning to stay out of the canal along the Pearl Harbor bike path and the areas in Middle Loch near the mouth of the canal.
Commercial dive operations in Middle Loch near the affected area should be postponed.
The state's Clean Water Branch was notified of a wastewater discharge due to a force main break along the Pearl Harbor bike path, south of Waiawa Road, approximately 800 meters west of Lehua Ave.
Preliminary estimates are at tens of thousands of gallons have been spilled. The discharge has been stopped, and warning signs have been posted.
Sewage spills into canal that feeds Pearl Harbor
Jan 19, 2010 9:31 by
Associated Press
Work crews in Hawaii are repairing a broken main that spilled thousands of gallons of sewage into a drainage canal that empties into Pearl Harbor.
State health officials say more than 11,000 gallons of sewage was discharged Sunday at Ted Makalena Golf Course.
Honolulu officials say the broken main was connected to a pump station.
The area of Pearl Harbor where the canal empties is not a public recreation area, and the city has posted warning signs.
Sewage spill reported at Pearl Harbor's East Loch
Advertiser Staff February 17, 2009
Crews from the city Department of Environmental Services responded to wastewater pipe break in Pearl City Tuesday afternoon that spilled 5,525 gallons of raw sewage.
Crews arrived at the scene at 12:30 p.m. and secured the site at 1:45 p.m. The 21-inch reinforced concrete pipe broke near the intersection of Lehua and Second streets, sending 5,525 gallons of untreated wastewater onto Navy property behind Lehua Elementary School and into East Loch, Pearl Harbor.
A contractor was sent to repair the break.
The Department of Health and the Navy have been notified. Sampling will begin Wednesday morning.
Untreated sewage spills into Pearl Harbor
2.3 million gallons flow from a Pearl City site after an error
January 22, 2005
About 2.3 million gallons of raw sewage spilled in Pearl City yesterday, and more than half of it flowed into Pearl Harbor, city officials said.
The city estimates that 2.3 million gallons of sewage escaped from the pipe and that 1.4 million of it went into nearby Waiawa Stream and down to Pearl Harbor's Middle Loch.
On March 4, 2 million gallons of raw sewage went into Mamala Bay from a break in a pressurized pipe at Sand Island. There have been sewage spills of 2 million gallons or more in four of the past six years. In 2003, sewage spills totaled 7.8 million gallons.
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Honolulu Harbor Major Molasses Spill Not First Time
By the way, the major Molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor wasn't the first time this has happened- a nearly identical smaller spill happened almost 10 years earlier- but apparently never led to any regular inspection of the pumps and pipes that perform this operation...
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/12/10/news/index7.html
WAILUKU- A two-inch hole in a state transmission line spilled 50,000 gallons of molasses into Kahului Harbor Monday.
Scott Cunningham, the state harbor master in Kahului, said the break in the pipeline at Pier 1 appears to be an anomaly and the rest of the line seems in "excellent condition." The break is scheduled to be fixed today.
The state Clean Water Branch said the molasses, a thick syrup produced during sugar refining, is not a pollutant
...and will mix with ocean water and be flushed out of the harbor, especially under winter storm conditions.
"It does not appear that there will be any long-term damage to harbor waters," said Mike Tsuji, the branch's enforcement section supervisor.
