Surface Water Quality in Hawaii
Surface Water Quality Regulation
Hawaii separates Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulatory authorities into the Clean Water Branch (CWB) and the Safe Drinking Water Branch (SDWB) of the State Department of Health (HDOH), Environmental Health Administration, Environmental Management Division. This separation is due to public drinking water sources predominantly being groundwater, which is not subject to the Clean Water Act. Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §342d Water Pollution, Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Chapters 11-54 and 11-55, and HDOH Clean Water Branch are all surface water only. Groundwater is covered by HRS §340 E&F, and HAR Title 11 Chapters 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, & 65 and is not considered to interact with surface water.There are 3 branches to the federal government of the United States (U.S.) of America: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The document collecting the Legislation passed by Congress is the United States Code, maintained by the House of Representatives. The Clean Water Act in its amended entirety is found at 33 USC Chapter 26. The text includes annotations of legal decisions from the various levels of the Judicial Branch which impact the implementation of the Act. The document collecting the Regulations developed by the President and his agencies (Executive Branch) is the Code of Federal Regulations, maintained by the Government Printing Office. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) administration of the Clean Water Act is found at 40 CFR 100-149. The United States Army Corps of Engineers administration of CWA is found at 33 CFR 200-399
All of this federal stuff is well and good, but EPA authorizes most states, including Hawaii, to regulate under these laws where the state's laws are as good as or stronger than the federal laws. Hawaii's Constitution describes water quality and rights in Article IX Section 8 Preservation of Healthful Environment and Article XI Conservation, Control and Development of Resources. Hawaii Revised Statutes (state laws, similar to the US Code) cover water at Title 12: Conservation & Resources, Subtitle 2: Water and Land Development; Flood Control and water pollution at Chapter 342D. Hawaii Administrative Rules (state regulations, similar to the CFR) Chapter 11-54 (Water Quality Standards) and 11-55 (Water Pollution Control) layout water quality regulation in the state.
Most of this regulation is in the form of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits defined in Appendices A-M of 11-55, written by the Engineering Program, and enforced by the Enforcement Program. There is also a developing Polluted Runoff Control (watersheds and non point sources) Program.
In Hawaii only the City and County of Honolulu WWTP(s) are required to have a pretreatment program. The other counties are much smaller capacity and most areas are on cesspool / septic.
Maui Wastewater Permits, Wastewater Reclamation, Wastewater Injection
Kauai Wastewater
The Hawaii Environmental Health Portal provides several tools for viewing various water quality aspects of the state's waters:
EPA hosts Hawaii's surface water quality data geospatially:
Water Quality data in Hawaii is available from the HDOH Clean Water Branch Monitoring Program
HDOH CWB Permits through NetDMR and the WPC archives/Viewer
HDOH Safe Drinking Water Branch collects groundwater data, the Groundwater Contamination Viewer is also available through the Hawaii Environmental Health Portal.
Water Resources research information is available from the Hawaii Water Resources Research Center at University of Hawaii Manoa and the USGS Hawaii Water Science Center.
Air forecasts and current conditions are posted here.
The all important surf forecast and current surf information is available from these fine folks:
Surf News Network
Surfline
If like us, you are seeking small keiki-safe surf conditions, Hawaii Beach Safety is a good planning tool.
Another important consideration for the quality of your water recreation experience is jellyfish! The calendar of potential jellyfish can be found here
American Rivers does not cover Hawaii or the Pacific territories
Izaak Walton League of America has no local chapters in Hawaii
The Hawaii Department of Health Clean Air Branch monitors for SO2, CO, NO2, PM10 STD, and PM 2.5 at the Kapolei monitoring station on Oahu. The Sand Island monitoring station records O3. Since Hawaii is volcanic, it should not be surprising that there are regular exceedances for SO2 on Hawaii Island due to volcanic emissions. My frustration with this is that ocean acidification (p.5) is a documented state concern for water quality, and pH and nitrogen data are collected as part of the water quality monitoring, sulfur is not monitored in waters and no effort is made to connect the water quality to the air quality. Mind you, this was not done on the East Coast either with the exception of the Appalachian Trail.
According to the 1998 University of Hawaii Atlas of Hawaii, each spring wind storms in northwest China collect large amounts of dust and black carbon air pollution that is carried 3600 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii, resulting "in concentrations 10 times greater than normal". These pollutants, among others, are monitored at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory Mauna Loa Observatory. Pueschel & Mendonca 1972 identified sources of atmospheric particulate matter on Hawaii, but there is not a more recent followup and the sources presumably have changed in the 45 years of development since. The Earth System Science Education Alliance offers a Dust World Curriculum which references 2001 and 2007 China dust storms that were tracked affecting North America, but if you look at the Live Earth surface wind flow linked above most days the wind is from Hawaii to China...
All of this federal stuff is well and good, but EPA authorizes most states, including Hawaii, to regulate under these laws where the state's laws are as good as or stronger than the federal laws. Hawaii's Constitution describes water quality and rights in Article IX Section 8 Preservation of Healthful Environment and Article XI Conservation, Control and Development of Resources. Hawaii Revised Statutes (state laws, similar to the US Code) cover water at Title 12: Conservation & Resources, Subtitle 2: Water and Land Development; Flood Control and water pollution at Chapter 342D. Hawaii Administrative Rules (state regulations, similar to the CFR) Chapter 11-54 (Water Quality Standards) and 11-55 (Water Pollution Control) layout water quality regulation in the state.
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| http://health.hawaii.gov/cwb/clean-water-branch-home-page/water-quality-standards/ |
Most of this regulation is in the form of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits defined in Appendices A-M of 11-55, written by the Engineering Program, and enforced by the Enforcement Program. There is also a developing Polluted Runoff Control (watersheds and non point sources) Program.
Storm Water Infrastructure
In Hawaii it is 2 words. Most public infrastructure is managed at the County level. City and County Honolulu (CCH), Hawaii County, and Maui County have MS4s (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems). Kauai County has a Storm Water System, it is too small to be considered an MS4. Hawaii DOT also manages MS4s associated with the airports, highways, and harbors. HDOT Maui, HDOT Oahu. Each DOD facility also has its own MS4 and permit with the state.
Permits and related documents are searchable via the Water Pollution Control (WPC) Viewer, using Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems as the search term (MS4 will only return 3 results on Oahu, there are 148 other permits in the state). You can select the facility / permit of interest in the list or zoom to a map location
Hawaii is about 10 years behind the mainland and starting to embrace Low Impact Development and onsite stormwater retention. The Chesapeake Bay Program has pushed urban stormwater BMPs for over a decade and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network provides a wealth of free resources, including BMP maintenance guidance. HDOT also
Permits and related documents are searchable via the Water Pollution Control (WPC) Viewer, using Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems as the search term (MS4 will only return 3 results on Oahu, there are 148 other permits in the state). You can select the facility / permit of interest in the list or zoom to a map location
Hawaii is about 10 years behind the mainland and starting to embrace Low Impact Development and onsite stormwater retention. The Chesapeake Bay Program has pushed urban stormwater BMPs for over a decade and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network provides a wealth of free resources, including BMP maintenance guidance. HDOT also
Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure
Under the Clean Water Act, and frequently administered with, but not actually part of, the NPDES program, is the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Pretreatment Program. Any publicly operated (not Federal - I'll cover those here at some point) WWTP which handles >/= 5 MGD (million gallons per day) is required to have a pretreatment program in which (mostly) any commercial / industrial discharger to the sanitary sewer is permitted by the WWTP and limited in the contents of their discharge. The limits are dependent on the operations and systems of the WWTP.In Hawaii only the City and County of Honolulu WWTP(s) are required to have a pretreatment program. The other counties are much smaller capacity and most areas are on cesspool / septic.
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| Hawaii County Wastewater Division GIS |
Maui Wastewater Permits, Wastewater Reclamation, Wastewater Injection
Kauai Wastewater
Water and Recreational Quality Information
Available CWA reports from Hawaii on EPA's website are from 2002 to 2014, every 2 years. HDOH CWB also provides the 2016 and 2018 reports. EPA recently (June 2020) re-launched How's My Water, which provides a very simplified graphical overview of water quality. It can only be as detailed as the data underlying it, and Hawaii's is a bit misleading, though the Integrated Water Quality Reports and supporting documents are clearly presented at the bottom of the page. |
| Hawaii Department of Health Clean Water Branch Water Pollution Control Viewer |
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| HDOH CWB Water Quality Advisories Viewer |
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| HDOH SDWB Groundwater Quality Viewer. SDWB's explanation of the development of this data is here. |
EPA hosts Hawaii's surface water quality data geospatially:
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| EPA's WATERS GeoViewer, powered by ESRI ArcGIS Online has replaced the MyWATERS Mapper. |
HDOH CWB Permits through NetDMR and the WPC archives/Viewer
HDOH Safe Drinking Water Branch collects groundwater data, the Groundwater Contamination Viewer is also available through the Hawaii Environmental Health Portal.
Water Resources research information is available from the Hawaii Water Resources Research Center at University of Hawaii Manoa and the USGS Hawaii Water Science Center.
Air forecasts and current conditions are posted here.
The all important surf forecast and current surf information is available from these fine folks:
Surf News Network
Surfline
If like us, you are seeking small keiki-safe surf conditions, Hawaii Beach Safety is a good planning tool.
Another important consideration for the quality of your water recreation experience is jellyfish! The calendar of potential jellyfish can be found here
Where Hawaii Data ISN'T Available:
Hawaii's data is not available in a format that can be viewed in How's My Waterway. |
| Hawaii is not included in EPA's nutrient Ecoregions |
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| Hawaii is not included in EPA's National Listing of Fish Advisories (NLFA) |
Izaak Walton League of America has no local chapters in Hawaii
Airshed and Watershed for Hawaii
Hawaii is different ecologically, geologically, and geographically from any other state in the US, which is largely responsible for it not being included in the things mentioned above. But I'm a bit frustrated in the lack of detail I have found thus far for the specific hydrologic cycle of the Hawaiian Islands. Given all these differences, many basic assumptions from other areas of the US should not be applied here, starting with air sources of water. As depicted on Live Earth, the wind patterns and origin of air flowing over the Hawaiian islands can be very different from the continental US Pacific Coast: |
| Live Earth surface wind flow |
According to the 1998 University of Hawaii Atlas of Hawaii, each spring wind storms in northwest China collect large amounts of dust and black carbon air pollution that is carried 3600 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii, resulting "in concentrations 10 times greater than normal". These pollutants, among others, are monitored at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory Mauna Loa Observatory. Pueschel & Mendonca 1972 identified sources of atmospheric particulate matter on Hawaii, but there is not a more recent followup and the sources presumably have changed in the 45 years of development since. The Earth System Science Education Alliance offers a Dust World Curriculum which references 2001 and 2007 China dust storms that were tracked affecting North America, but if you look at the Live Earth surface wind flow linked above most days the wind is from Hawaii to China...
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