Hawai'i's beaches are relatively clean compared with the rest of the nation, but storm-water runoff continues to contaminate waters and put swimmers at risk, according to an annual report.

In 2007, the nation experienced its second-highest level of beach closures and advisories in 18 years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's Testing the Waters report released last week.

The incidence of infections associated with recreational swimming has steadily increased over the past few decades, the report states.

Hawai'i fared relatively well in 2007, ranking 25th out of 30 states included in the study in terms of the percentage of water samples exceeding national standards.

Just 3 percent of nearly 5,500 water samples collected in Hawai'i in 2007 exceeded U.S. health standards. This compares with 23 percent of samples taken in Illinois, which had the highest rate, and none of the samples taken in Alaska, which had the lowest rate.

"We definitely have some of the best waters around," said Jim Foti, a Lanikai Canoe Club paddler who is in the water about four times a week. In his 35-plus-year career as a paddler, Foti has paddled in waters surrounding Tahiti, Australia and New York — none of which compare to Hawai'i in terms of water quality, he said.

"We're happy to be near the bottom of the list," said Watson Okubo, monitoring supervisor for the state Department of Health's Clean Water Branch, which collects data on Hawai'i's beaches. "One of the good things about Hawai'i is that we're in the middle of the Pacific, so we have good circulation on our coastal waters," he said.

The state's Clean Water Branch is in charge of monitoring more than a third of the 449 public beaches that stretch along 300 miles of Hawai'i's coastlines.

Beaches with the heaviest traffic, such as Sunset Beach and Kuhio Beach Park, are monitored three times a week, while others are monitored less frequently.

The branch collects data for indicator bacteria, salinity, dissolved oxygen and pH levels in public waters. It issues advisories and posts warnings when bacteria levels are higher than federal and state standards.

The Clean Water Branch employs six staffers on O'ahu, two on the Big Island and one each on Maui and Kaua'i, who collect 500-milliliter water samples.

Samples are brought to Department of Health labs on O'ahu, Kaua'i, Maui and in Hilo. Kona samples are sent to a private lab.

In 2007, Hawai'i's most contaminated beaches were Hanama'ulu Beach Park on Kaua'i and Ke'ehi Lagoon in Honolulu. About 82 percent and 62 percent of samples taken at these beaches, respectively, exceeded state health standards.

The NRDC report incorrectly reports that Po'ipu Beach on Kaua'i had a 47 percent exceedance rate, Okubo said. DOH data show that Po'ipu Beach had a 1 percent exceedance rate.

On a county level, the report states that Kaua'i County had the highest exceedance rate in the state, with 21 percent of samples exceeding state standards. That figure may be wrong, however, in light of the Po'ipu Beach error. Kaua'i County was followed by Honolulu with 10 percent, Hawai'i with 9 percent and Maui with 5 percent exceedance rates.

Storm-water runoff was the main source of pollution in 2007, accounting for 99 percent of contaminated waters.

In 2006, the state experienced a significant rise in the number of closures and advisories because of heavy rains and sewage spills, including a highly publicized force main break in March that put 48 million gallons of raw sewage in the Ala Wai canal.

Sewage spills were not a significant factor in water pollution in 2007, accounting for just 1 percent of contaminated waters.

In the 2007 fiscal year, city agencies spent $354.7 million to improve sewer systems.

"We have been upgrading our pipes and dedicating a lot of time to preventive maintenance, which is resulting in declining spills," said Markus Owens, spokesman for Honolulu's Department of Environmental Services. The city is repairing and replacing its six major force mains, part of nearly 50 ongoing projects related to improving wastewater collection.

The number of sewage spills per quarter has continued to decline over the past two years. In the second quarter of 2008, 20 spills were recorded, compared with 41 spills in the second quarter of 2007.

The city has plans to appropriate more than $1.5 billion for wastewater collection systems through the year 2013.

"It's an ongoing effort to protect the waters that are so vital to our economy and our lifestyle," said Dean Higuchi of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

'CAUSE FOR CONCERN'

Under the federal Beach Act, Hawai'i received a grant of $323,660 in 2007 to support beach monitoring programs. The state is eligible for $318,590 this year. Funds have helped to expand the scope and frequency of beach monitoring in recent years, Okubo said.

Environmental experts say that a statewide 3 percent exceedance rate is too high.

"Given that Hawai'i is a state that relies so greatly on its beaches for use by both residents and tourists, the fact that 3 percent of samples exceed national standards should be cause for concern," said Noah Garrison, project attorney for the NRDC. "Pathogens in beach water can cause a whole range of illnesses, from skin rashes and respiratory ailments to eye and ear infections."

Nationwide, the percentage of samples exceeding national health standards stayed the same, at 7 percent.

STRICT STANDARDS

Hawai'i also uses its own criteria to measure water quality, which are stricter than national standards and use two types of indicator bacteria instead of one.

When examining water quality by state criteria, Hawai'i saw an increase in contaminated waters from 2006 to 2007. About 9 percent of samples exceeded the state's daily maximum bacterial standards in 2007, compared with 3 percent in 2006 and 4 percent in 2005.

These variances could exist because some beaches are sampled on a rotational schedule, meaning that different beaches are tested every year, said Larry Lau, the DOH's deputy director for environmental health. In addition, sampling frequencies also vary year-to-year, he said.

Okubo does not see the rise in exceedance rates based on state standards as a source of concern. State standards are so strict that they are not meaningful, Okubo said. Many samples that exceed state health standards would not exceed national standards for minimum allowable bacteria levels.

Regardless of what standards are used to measure contamination rates, experts agree that more should be done to improve water quality in Hawai'i.

"There continues to be a tremendous number of days where there are closures and advisories. For a state that prides itself on its beautiful coastlines, this is something that absolutely needs to be addressed," Garrison said.