Kailua Bay Water Quality Advisory for July 11th, 2020

Warning Signs have been posted around Kailua Bay following a sewage spill in Kailua Village Saturday morning (July 11th).

Published by: HIRSC - Hawaii Island (Holualoa) Team

info@hiradioscannercommunity.com

From the Department of Health - Clean Water Branch:

The public is advised to remain out of the waters of Kailua Bay in Kona.

Approximately 20,000 gallons of sewage entered Kailua Bay due to a broken sewer line. Signs have been posted and water quality samples are being collected.

The public is advised to remain out of Kailua Bay until this advisory has been canceled.

---

Details on the wastewater spilled:

The Hawaii Police Department (HPD) and the Hawaii Fire Department (HFD) received the call just before 7:30 am Saturday morning (July 11th) and responded to the area near Hulihe’e Palace in Kailua Village.

Arriving crews found a broken sewer line with a large amount of brown water leaking from the broken line. Crews as a precaution evacuated open businesses near the broken line and closed Ali’i Drive between Kailua Pier (or Kaahumanu Place) to Sarona Road while Department of Environmental Management (DEM) worked to repair the broken sewer line and clean/sanitize the surrounding area.

Ali’i Drive was later reopened to traffic just before 12:00 pm Saturday afternoon.

DEM officials along with DOH - CWB staff later confirmed up 20,000 gallons of wastewater had spilled into Kailua Bay and signs have been posted to warn swimmers to stay out of water until further notice. DEM officials did not go into details on how the spill/broken sewer line occurred.