LEAD FOUND IN HONUA OLA DISCHARGE WATER

April 4, 2019   Hilo, Hawai’i

Lead was found in wastewater that was discharged from Honua Ola (formerly Hu Honua) last November at levels “ten times higher than acceptable freshwater levels, and two times higher than acceptable marine water levels, according to National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Hawai’i State Department of Health (DOH) standards,” said marine scientists at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo (UHH).

The UHH marine scientists based their comments on lab tests by TestAmerica, done for Sierra Club, Hawai’i Island group.

The scientists added, “Lead is well documented as a toxic heavy metal in both freshwater and marine environments, and a wide range of impacts are found in fish, invertebrates and seaweeds.”

Sierra Club cautions that the results are not reliable because not all protocols were followed. But Sierra Club’s Hawai’i Island group chair Deborah J. Ward says, “The results are deeply troubling, so we are calling for Independent testing of discharge water now being stored on the Honua Ola site, and monitoring of marine and freshwater systems vulnerable to industrial discharge and storm water runoff from Honua Ola.”

View the testimony of the findings. http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2019/04/16/video-lead-found-in-hu-honua-discharge-sierra-club-says/?fbclid=IwAR21PJe9ATdvOiub0vdGYAaOe8oAnEBoMB5CmBsyV96PBaWhMPiAkTFM3Vg