Hawaii
Raw Sewage Sneaking Into West Hawaii’s Coastal Waters Threatens Coral Reefs and Public Health, Scientists Find – Inside Climate News
For generations, West Hawaii’s picturesque coastlines have been a gathering place for fishing, swimming and ceremony. But those sacred waters are also gathering something else.
Using airborne mapping, field sampling and advanced statistical analysis, researchers at Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science in Hawaii revealed that nearly half of West Hawaii’s coastline is being quietly contaminated with raw sewage.
As a result, coral reefs in bays like Hōnaunau are struggling to flourish, weakening ecosystems that people rely on for food, and harming their ability to protect coastline communities from erosion and rising sea levels. The sewage-contaminated ocean water not only threatens the environment but also exposes swimmers to E. coli, salmonella and other pathogens or parasites that sicken people.
The researchers collected water samples from 47 shoreline sites in the South Kohala, North Kona and South Kona regions. Of those sites, 42 percent had elevated levels of a bacteria that indicates sewage contamination, and the levels were high enough in nearly a quarter of the sites to threaten both the environment and human health, their study found.
“The most alarming thing was how consistently we found contamination at popular swimming sites, places where families take their kids,” said Kelly Hondula, associate research scientist at the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and lead author of the study. “Some of these sites regularly test above public-health thresholds, meaning swimming there poses a higher risk of disease.”
Cesspools and leaky septic tanks are a key reason for the water contamination, the researchers say.
Hawaii banned the creation of new cesspools in 2016, the last U.S. state to do so. But
more than 88,000 cesspools, which Hawaii’s Department of Health describes as “little more than holes in the ground,” still operate in the state. Each day, homes and businesses using this inexpensive but ineffective form of waste management discharge more than 53 million gallons of untreated sewage.
Andrea Kealoha, an assistant professor of marine biology and geochemistry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, who wasn’t involved with the new study, notes that the use of injection wells in the state also contributes to sewage contamination in water.
“They take the wastewater, all of the wastewater, to facilities in a community, they treat that water, but they don’t really remove the nutrients or the other pollutants,” she said.
What makes the West Hawaii region so vulnerable to coastline contamination is a phenomenon known as submarine groundwater discharge. West Hawaii is built upon the young lava flows of the Hualālai and Mauna Loa volcanoes. The hardened lava, once fluid, has dried up and is filled with cracks, tubes and voids. When homes, businesses and wastewater management plants discharge wastewater into the ground from cesspools, septic tanks or injection wells, it quickly travels through the lava tubes and fractures, emerging under the coast’s tideline.
That process disperses the substances carried along with the waste. Among them is nitrogen, a nutrient that helps plants grow but in higher concentrations can harm marine ecosystems. In such conditions, it’s harder for coral reefs to reproduce and recover after incidents like bleaching.
“The nitrogen that leaks out into the ocean from groundwater contamination and into the reef system stimulates the growth of algae, the kind of algae that grows on the sea floor, like a weed. And that algae overtakes the coral,” said Greg Asner, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and senior author of the study.
When that algae dies and decomposes on the coastline floor, it consumes oxygen in the water. Too much of that leaves fish and invertebrates unable to survive.
“If we continue on the pathway of not taking action, not improving water quality, we’re going to see more ecosystem loss,” said Jasmine Fournier, executive director of the Ocean Sewage Alliance, which aims to reduce the waste contamination problem. “The things we expect when we go into the water, we might not be seeing as much anymore. We’ll see more algal blooms, more fish kills, fishermen who can no longer maintain their livelihoods because the fish stocks are gone.”
A 2017 law requires all cesspools to be converted to more effective waste management by 2050, but Kealoha said ASU’s findings should prompt more action.
“We have such a hard time as local communities to combat the whole greater climate issue—which comes with ocean warming and ocean acidification—but we do have power to combat these local stressors,” she said.
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Jaylan Sims is a senior at Vanderbilt University, majoring in communication of science & technology and communication studies. An Appalachian native, Sims covers climate activism, agriculture and climate research out of Nashville. Previously, Sims covered the environment for The Nashville Banner, Minnesota Public Radio and outlets across Minnesota. Sims hosted The Vanderbilt Hustler’s VU History Podcast, earning the publication its first national audio-journalism award.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (HawaiiNewsNow) – U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) reintroduced a piece of legislation on Thursday to strengthen protections for immigrant families and address long-standing problems in the family immigration system.
The Reuniting Families Act aims to reduce visa backlogs, boost efficiency across the immigration process, and ensure a fairer, more humane process for immigrant families.
“Immigrant families currently experience unnecessary obstacles and delays due to our country’s broken immigration system, keeping families separated for potentially long periods of time,” Hirono said. “By reducing family-based immigration backlogs and making common sense updates to how we treat families, the Reuniting Families Act will help take the first step in the right direction to keeping families together as they navigate our immigration system.”
According to the senators behind this bill, nearly four million people with approved visa applications are currently trapped in a massive immigration backlog, with many waiting more than a decade to reunite with their loved ones.
“As Donald Trump’s inhumane mass deportation campaign rips apart families and communities across the country, it’s paramount we address the unnecessary barriers in our immigration system that have created backlogs and kept families apart for years,” Duckworth said. “Our legislation would implement commonsense reforms to help end family-based backlogs, which keep too many with approved green card applications stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and help get more families where they belong—together.”
The Reuniting Families Act would shorten delays by recapturing unused visas, rolling them into future years, expanding who qualifies as a family member to include permanent partners, and increasing both the total number of available family preference visas and per-country limits.
The bill would also put a time limit on visa processing, so no applicant has to wait more than 10 years for a visa if they have an approved application.
Click here to read the full bill.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
HONOLULU (AP) — Henry Rouhliadeff scored 16 points to lead six Hawaii players in double figures and the Rainbow Warriors beat Division-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46 on Wednesday night.
Rouhliadeff made 6 of 9 from the field and finished with nine rebounds and five assists. Dre Bullock scored 12 points for Hawaii (9-2) and Hunter Erickson, Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, Gytis Nemeiksa and Isaac Finlinson added 11 points apiece.
Jamal Entezami led Hawaii Hilo with 11 points and Jessiya Villa scored 10.
Hawaii shot 51% overall and made 13 3-pointers. The Rainbow Warriors, who went into the game averaging 13.4 assists per game, had a season-high 25 assists on 35 made field goals.
The 52-point margin of victory was Hawaii’s largest since a 106-49 win over Redlands on Jan. 28, 1972, and the third largest in program history. The Rainbow Warriors beat BYU Hawaii by 67 (106-49) in the 1962-63 season.
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HONOLULU (KHON2) — Poke is a dish created by Native Hawaiians and perfected by local immigrants. But according to online reviews, the best poke in the country is not from Hawaii. And one world-renowned chef who’s credited with poke’s popularity calls it a “slap in the face.”
People are willing to stand in long lines every day for poke. So to say the best in the country is not in Hawaii – that’s fighting words for some.
“So for you to say that, yeah, I kinda like scrap kine,” said Branden Machado, poke connoisseur.
“Nah, I laugh, I laugh,” said Mike Sablay, poke connoisseur.
The restaurant in Big Bear, California, is called Tropicali and was recently reported to have America’s best poke, based on Yelp.
“When I heard that, I was very upset, because I well know, and as you well know, and our millions of listeners and watchers of our station, they well know that the best poke is in Hawaii,” said Sam Choy, world-renowned celebrity chef/restaurateur.
“When I read that, I felt a little slighted,” said Chris Kam, Alicia’s Market. “Understandable, people from the mainland don’t really know what Hawaiian poke is about.”
With a large shark’s head as the front entrance, the decor – just like the menu – is said to be based on Hawaiian culture, but not to emulate it. So poke there – and elsewhere on the continent – looks much different from the poke bowls we’re used to seeing in Hawaii.
“It came with cucumbers, it came with won ton strips, I ordered the spicy one, so it came with the spicy sauce, and then I ordered unagi sauce on the side, and it tasted so good,” said one anonymous local who tried Tropicali and liked it. “It tasted so fresh, I was so surprised it was crazy.”
“That’s not poke, that’s like a salad,” said Kam.
“Nah, nothing can beat back home,” said Sablay. “Everything over here is like the best. Everything’s all local, everything’s all fresh.”
“Like on Oahu, we have the freshest fish, we have the best recipes, like and it’s not only us,” said Justin Tanioka, Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering. “It’s other companies around the island that have mastered poke.”
Since this is a Yelp award, having great Yelp reviews does help. Tropicali currently has more than 4,000 reviews and maintains a 4.9 Star rating. However, locals say to declare themselves the best in the country for a food that’s not only born in Hawaii, but beloved in Hawaii, is extremely bold.
“It’s definitely a slap in the face for all the poke makers in Hawaii who work unbelievably hard to create their magical dishes,” said Choy. “Two things. One, we use fresh fish. And the other one is tender loving care, TLC is in there. We’re putting our heart and soul in that. We’re representing our history, we’re representing our aina, we’re representing all the people in the past that made poke.”
“It’s all preference, and you know where you are,” said Tanioka. “But to me, the best poke in the world, honestly, is in Oahu.”
“Cuz check that out, Big Bear ain’t got nothing on this, my cuz,” said Machado. “We get the best poke in the world. Bumbye, we teach you.”
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