Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — Lawsuit Filed to Clean Kīkīaola Harbor [ARTICLE]

Lawsuit Filed to Clean Kīkīaola Harbor

Nā Kia'i Kai and Surfrider Foundation, represented by Earthjustice, filed a federal lawsuit against the County of Kaua'i and director of the Hawai'i Department of Health (DOH) in July. The groups say the state and the county failed to abide by a federal court order requiring a Clean Water Act permit to discharge polluted water into Kīkīaola Harbor. The lawsuit seeks to protect subsistence fishing grounds, surf breaks, and other recreational areas from continued contamination. Nā Kia'i Kai member Lawrence Kapuniai's family has been fishing along the West Kaua'i shoreline for generations. "This oeean is our icebox. That is why we are demanding this new permit to control the pollution dumped into our oeean." In 2019, the U.S. District Court ruled that discharging pollution into the oeean from the Mānā Plain's plantation-era drainage ditch system, including ffom the Kīkīaola Harbor Drain, requires a federal permit under the Clean Water Act. The county has applied for the required permit, but the DOH has refused to acknowledge its legal duty to process the applieation, let alone eommiī to issuing a permit for the Kīkīaola discharges. The harbor drain discharges untreated waters contaminated with sediment and other pollutants into the nearshore waters at Kīkīaola Harbor during heavy

rains. Water quality testing in the harbor drain has detected elevated levels of turbidity, diesel, and enterococcus bacteria.