Wastewater spill at treatment plant in East Hawai‘i forces shoreline closures

Portions of East Hawai‘i shorelines are closed following a wastewater spill at the Pāpaʻikou Treatment Plant, which resulted in a discharge of up to 98,300 gallons of fully treated, insufficiently disinfected wastewater.

The Hawaiʻi County Department of Environmental Management reports that a malfunction of the disinfection system occurred at an undetermined time between 2 p.m. on Feb. 11 and 8:45 a.m. this morning.

The cause was due to a failure in the automated disinfection system, officials stated in a county news release this afternoon.

In response, crews took immediate remedial actions to manually disinfect the effluent and restored the automated disinfection system by 9:03 a.m. In addition, emergency response procedures were initiated that included communication with relevant county and state agencies.

After consultation with State Department of Health representatives, the shoreline area in the vicinity of the outfall from Lyman Bay (Mill Beach) to Waipahi Point has been closed to shoreline activities as a precautionary measure.

Contaminated water warning signs have been posted in the affected shoreline area to warn the public. The signs advise the public that the shoreline within the posted areas is closed to swimming, fishing, and boating activities due to the possibility of contaminated water in the area.

The signs will remain in place until confirmation is obtained that bacterial levels are within acceptable levels and approval for removal of the warning signs has been received from the State Department of Health.