KAILUA NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD NO. 31

KAILUA WATER QUALITY PSPHCD SUBCOMMITTEE
MEETING AGENDA
Thursday, February 13, 2025
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
In-person at the Kailua District Park District Meeting Room with ZOOM option:
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88191521468?pwd=7WQ9pgBka7ZsrklCVvWNVSFX5jtLEo.1
Meeting ID: 881 9152 1468
Passcode: 916725
Chair: Levani Lipton levani.knb@gmail.com Members: Kelli Ann Kobayashi, Kate Righter, Steve Trecker, and Gary Weller.
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Announcemnets:
a. Kailua Water Quality Data- Honolulu City and County Wastewater Treatment Plant has launched a new water quality data dashboard. Visit: https://www8.honolulu.gov/env/kailua-water-quality-data/
b. Sign up for brown water advisories and alerts: https://eha-cloud.doh.hawaii.gov/cwb/#!/landing . Brown water frequently occurs after storm events. For your safety, it is recommended not to enter the ocean or streams if they are brown or after a storm. If you have an open wound or cut, it is best to avoid the water until you are healed. Check the DOH website for alerts.
c. “FOLLOW THE DROP” is a stormwater mobile app that collects data on how much stormwater is being generated on a property and provides optimum types and sizes of stormwater capture solutions. Schedule a free rainwater assessment at: https://rainwaterhawaii.com to learn how you can use the app to minimize stormwater runoff from your property.
4. Presentation: Castles Beach, Kawainui Stream, and Adjacent Areas Water Quality Study: The Results: by Sarah Lowry, PhD Candidate and Professor Ali Boehm of Stanford University
5. Resident and Community Concerns
6. Old Business:
a. Storm drain maintenance
b. Culvert and channel cleaning maintenance schedule
c. Bacterial effluent exceedance in Kailua Bay & protocols
d. Stormwater Utility (now SWOOSH)
e. Status of 2008 and 2010 Stormwater BMPs
f. Status of Kawainui Levee Siphon
g. BMP violations
h. Mangrove removal
i. Cesspool conversions in Kailua
j. Kapa’a Quarry impacts on water quality
k. Akiohala Street CIP project
l. Hāmākua Genki Ball Study
m. Castles Beach and Kawainui Stream study
n. Street sweeping schedule & parking restrictions for pollution reduction
o. Kaelepulu Pond TMDL status
7. New Business
8. Ongoing Discussion:
a. What pukas have you noticed in the government response to addressing pollution in our waterways?
b. What are your ideas for solving these challenges?
c. Sustainability of our natural resources: What steps can we take now to keep Kailua Bay and waterways thriving in the future?
d. Who are our allies in this effort
e. What community outreach and events are happening to promote awareness?
f. Who are the agencies and nonprofits who malama the ocean and waterways?
g. What steps can the public take to minimize pollution and maintain small footprints?
9. Adjournment

A mailing list is maintained for interested persons and agencies to receive this board’s agenda and minutes. Additions, corrections, and deletions to the mailing list may be directed to the Neighborhood Commission Office (NCO) at Kapālama Hale, 925 Dillingham Boulevard, Suite 160, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817, by telephone on (808) 768-3710, fax (808) 768-3711, or e-mailing nco@honolulu.gov. Agenda documents and minutes are also available online at http://www.honolulu.gov/nco/boards.html

All written testimony must be received in the Neighborhood Commission Office 48 hours prior to the meeting. If within 48 hours of the meeting, written and/or oral testimony may be submitted directly to the Board at the meeting. If submitting written testimony, please note the Board and agenda item(s) your testimony concerns. Send to: Neighborhood Commission Office, 925 Dillingham Boulevard, Suite 160, Honolulu, HI 96817, fax (808) 768-3711, or email nbtestimony@honolulu.gov.

If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation due to a disability or an interpreter for a language other than English, please call the Neighborhood Commission Office at (808) 768-3710 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. or send an email to nco@honolulu.gov at least three (3) business days before the scheduled meeting. It may not be possible to fulfill requests received after this date.

Kailua Water Quality PHPSCD Subcommittee
January 2025 Meeting Report
Chair, Levani Lipton
1. The subcommittee meeting was held in-person on January 9, 2025, chaired by Levani Lipton and attended by committee members Kelli Ann Kobayashi, Kate Righter, and Gary Weller, KNB members Josiah Akau and Bill Hicks, and residents Bob Bourke, Brennan Campbell, Ryley Cambell, William Campbell, Mike Compton, Michelle Compton, Reagan Donnegan, Derek Esibll, Cliff Hahn, Linda Jenks, Kristen Kane, Charles Laidley, Leonard Lepine, Judy Mick, Robert Moeng Tzyh Ng, Anuj Pawar, Doug Seelig, Cindy Turner, and Carmella Vizza.
2. Two announcements were made – The Semi-Annual Hamakua Wetland Community Clean Up event on January 20, 2025 and the upcoming presentation by the Stanford Research team on the results from water quality testing and microbial tracking in Kawainui Stream to Castles Beach scheduled for February 13, 2025 at 6 pm.
3. Several Kailua Scouts were introduced and in attendance at the meeting. They were observing the meeting as a requirement for their communications badge.
4. A presentation was given by former Kailua resident Bob Bourke on why stormwater is a more significant threat to Kailua Bay water quality compared to wastewater effluent from the WWTP.
a. Bourke referenced a study done by UH researcher Fujioka in the 1990s which analyzed water currents near the wastewater treatment plant’s outfall pipe and concluded that the currents were not likely to carry effluent to the shoreline. In Bourke’s opinion, he believes that recent incidents of high nearshore bacterial levels are likely linked to stormwater flows entering Kailua Bay through the Oneawa and Kaelepulu channels. Note: during heavy rainfall and storm events wastewater can overflow from cesspools and can flow to waterways. Untreated waste also can enter storm drains. Bourke’s conclusion is that stormwater runoff containing untreated waste (from animals and humans, along with other pollutants –metals, oil, rubber, runoff from roadways) is a much greater threat to water quality than the effluent from the WWTP in Kailua Bay. Irrespective of the source, the public should avoid water during both kinds of discharges and whenever the water is brown.
b. Bourke made the following recommendations to improve overall water quality in Kailua Bay:
(1) Eradicate mangroves from the waterway system – mangroves currently grow along Kawainui and Kaelepulu Streams. They trap sediment impeding water flow and changing the ecosystem.
(2) Update our city stormdrain system with modern BMPs (best management practices)
(3) Restore flow from Kawainui Marsh to Kawainui Stream to limit stagnation of water
(4) Open the mouth of Kaelepulu Stream on a monthly basis
(5) Dredge a short section of Kaelepulu Stream to allow sea water to flow into Kaelepulu pond
c. Bourke shared that the City’s stormwater NPDES permit is up for renewal in 2025 and requested the water quality committee make comments to improve the permit.
5. The committee passed the following motion: The Kailua Neighborhood Board requests that any reports produced by consultants hired by the City and County of Honolulu relating to water quality (including studies pertaining to wastewater and stormwater) in Kailua’s watersheds be shared with the Kailua Neighborhood Board’s Kailua Water Quality Subcommittee to inform the public’s understanding and assist us in our community outreach. We request that such reports be made available free of charge and expedited by the Office of Information Practices.

To view agenda and minutes, visit our board website.

Event shows physical location; however, other options of participation may also include WebEx and phone.  If available, instructions for WebEx and phone can be found at the top of the agenda.