Pollution tracking,
By Mary Adamski
stream use proposed
for water quality rules
Star-BulletinState officials will improve their ability to trace pollution spilled into streams and shoreline waters under planned changes in the Department of Health rules implementing water quality standards.
Tests for pollutants will be expanded to search for an additional bacteria, beyond the tests for E. coli and enterococcus, which reveal fecal contamination of water. That and other amendments to the administrative rules were outlined at a public hearing yesterday.
The enhanced testing also "provides us with a way to better disclose the quality of recreational waters to the public," said June Harrigan, manager of the Health Department environmental planning office. Finding elevated levels of Clostridium perfringens will be a better indication of contamination harmful to humans, she said.
Several speakers at the hearing expressed concerns of landowners and developers about the impact of rule changes that reclassify streams and wetlands. The rules will now list all streams, some of which are upgraded from Class 2 to Class 1, a change that affects permits regulating water use and discharge into streams.
Dan Davidson, executive director of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, questioned whether the rules will streamline government process in the spirit of the small business regulatory act, which the Legislature and the governor promoted as a pro-business step.
"It appears a great number of stream systems are being designated Class 1. Do the people who own land with streams have any idea of these new rules affecting them?" Davidson asked.
Charles Okamoto of Gay & Robinson on Kauai said: "The streams are our water source. What does this mean, if they are now Class 1 and no irrigation use is permitted of Class 1 streams?"
Deputy Health Director Bruce Anderson said, "It is not our intent to regulate water use."
City Councilman Steve Holmes said the testing doesn't go far enough. "Establish test methods that pinpoint pathogens . . . end this endless debate on the source" of pollutants.
Microbiologist Roger Fujioka of the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center said Holmes' suggestion is not financially feasible. "You would need 50 different methods to look for 50 different pathogens" and even then may not determine if the microbe was dead or alive.
"If you're going to have standards but don't take samples, what good is it?" asked Robert Rodman of the Waikiki Residents Association. He said Waikiki shoreline water is contaminated by runoff from the public showers and bathrooms, which are on cesspools. He urged the Health Department to test for staphylococcus bacteria.
Public comment on the proposed changes will be accepted through Nov. 19. Copies are available from the Environmental Planning Office, 919 Ala Moana, Room 312, telephone 586-4337. Or see the Web site at http://www.pixi.com/~epo-wqm/.
