ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

Recently, we've been hearing a lot about water pollution incidents around the world. Unfortunately, the underlying cause for most of these incidents are unmistakably man-made disasters.

Oil spills from stalled ships, the outbreak of a plague amongst plankton because of the higher water temperatures caused by global warming, are just some of the major impacts we have had on the ocean. There's so many instances of water pollution around the world, we couldn't possibly count them all.

A bird gets caught in an oil spill, and can no longer fly - I'm sure you've seen this on the news or in documentaries many times. It's up to us as humans to make sure tragic scenes such as that don't get repeated over and over again, and yet, another water pollution incident just happened – right here in beautiful Hawaii.

The ocean surrounding the Hawaiian Islands is brimming with coral reefs and ocean animals. Especially during this season, when whales come to Hawaii's waters to bear their children, we can't even begin to imagine how important these waters are. This is the absolute worse time such a thing could happen – so just what in the world went wrong?

The incident occurred on Oahu at Hawaii's second city, Kaneohe. Kaneohe bay is home to many sea animals, and if you just went into the ocean for a bit for a swim, you'd be surrounded by coral reefs and countless tiny fishes.

Of course, many visitors and locals alike come to this beautiful beach regularly, to go snorkeling and sunbathing. It's just a great place to spend a leisurely day.
However, a substantial amount of sewage was unexpectedly spilled here.

According the reports from city officials, a large amount of sewage had been discharged from a drainage pipe south of Mahalani Circle, contaminating the area from Coconut Island to Pohakea Point.
People are now advised to stay away from the beaches in that area.

The spill is reported to have begun at around 8AM on April 10, and by 9:15, just a little over an hour later, about 11,250 gallons of sewage had spilled into the ocean. The Hawaii Department of Health immediately began an assessment of the water quality in the area and presented their findings to reporters.

Details are still a bit sketchy at this point, but the contaminated waters are still very hazardous, so everyone, including tourists, are restricted from going onto the beaches until further notice. Just as another reminder to people who might be reading this – stay away from the beaches surrounding Kaneohe bay. It's unfortunate for this to happen after coming all the way to Hawaii, but in the end, your health is the most important thing to be concerned about.