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Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

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kitegirls
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Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby kitegirls » Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:52 pm

My kite buddy in Maui who is young and in excellent physical shape was nearly killed and now has several diseases from human waste carried viruses and bacteria which he contracted kiting daily 1000 meters upwind of a wastewater treatment plant with injection wells, namely the Kahului wastewater treatment facility in Kahului, Maui. This facility was build decades ago to handle a population tens of thousands smaller, before windsurfing and kitesurfing and has never been upgraded to deal with the current population and the current use of the waters off its coast.

He believes that he contracted all or at least many of the viruses, bacteria and diseases at once while kiting during a 200,000 gallon raw sewage "spill." The problem is that these "spills" are very common and the injection wells are basically injecting raw sewage directly into the ocean anyway.

The county of Maui has been in and out of court for many years and has been sued by several organizations as well as fined by the EPA due to this problem. There are probably around a million people per year who kite in this exact spot, many being children and elderly. The problem has continually worsened over the years until this point where it is directly linked to causing life-threatening disease.

My question is; does anyone have any idea how to stop this problem once and for all? If I was leaking less than .01% of this wastewater into my neighbor's yard, the river, or the ocean Maui county would be so far up my ass in fines. If after the county imposed fines I didn't correct the problem say, after 10 or 20 years I would surely be serving time in state prison.

So if I am subject to these laws why can the county literally get away with (attempted) manslaughter? If the county can enforce/impose this upon me who can enforce these laws upon them?
Last edited by kitegirls on Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby matth » Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:11 pm

That sucks bigtime!!!!! Boston had the dirtiest harbor in the country at one time and it is now one of the cleanest thanks to a state of the art sewage facility and an 8 mile pipe that takes the processed waste far away.

I would find a good lawyer and sue the state, maybe that will wake their asses up :angryfire: :angryfire: :angryfire: :angryfire: :angryfire:

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby BWD » Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:15 pm

Unfortunately Hawaii is run by some of the crookedest lawyers and politicians around. Good luck.

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby tautologies » Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:16 am

There are yearly spills in Kailua too (winter most common). Any rain would make the sewage plants overflow and it will spill into the canal and run right out into the bay and down the beach following the current. Its a known issue and the state isn't doing much about it.

We used to call it poo-kiting. Water looked brown and smelled horrible, but sometime the urges become too strong. They post signs on the beach...the idea was of course to get through the "brown zone" with minimal touch and go way outside.

How to stop it? Hawaii probably needs to scale their sewage treatment plats to fit the current population.
I'd try to get on my representatives. Get active and start looking into how big the problem is.

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juandesooka
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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby juandesooka » Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:30 am

This sounds like a job for ... Mr Floatie!



Now that Victoria BC has its billion dollar poo cleaning facility on the way, our local mascot and sewage advocate Mr. Floatie has retired. Maybe he could be enticed to move from the Island to the Islands. :-)

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby Toby » Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:39 am

Similar problem in Boracay Philippines.

Sewage gets spilled into the kite bay....many sick people.

Too many people in a too small area.
Called over populated.

How to stop? Chinese policy: one child only!

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby longwhitecloud » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:50 am

surfers against sewage!

friends were sick kiting in vietnam - straight from accommodation toilet into the kiteable water they said

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby BWD » Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:10 pm

Toby wrote:
Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:39 am
Similar problem in Boracay Philippines.

Sewage gets spilled into the kite bay....many sick people.

Too many people in a too small area.
Called over populated.

How to stop? Chinese policy: one child only!
Toby you're a good kiteforum admin but policy is not your specialty it seems.
Even China is not really doing that policy now, and it didn't work, FYI.
Clean up the poo, is the only way to go.
Hiding it underground, underwater doesn't work.
Hope they will get it done, somehow!!!

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby Dave_5280 » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:22 pm

Old saying among experts: The answer to pollution, is dilution.

Maui probably needs to invest in water treatment like the mainland has, rather then pumping and hoping for the best.

Was the spill related to all the construction at the plant I saw recently?

I was told by an instructor that over time, most of them had gotten staff infections, and an ER doctor told me the same.

I've never had a problem there so I must have gotten lucky.

Fixing sewage problems probably isn't as politically popular for the Mayor as GMOs, telescopes, wind turbines, and closing down most La Parouse for fake cultural studies (funny how the studies were never published after years of "temporary closures") and claimed bombing practice.

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Re: Toxic Water Nearly Killed My Kite Buddy

Postby BiteMe » Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:02 am

Contact your local Surfrider Foundation chapter. See if they are willing to work with you and make it one of their campaigns. They have started monitoring the water around the treatment plant as part of their Blue Water Task Force http://www.surfrider.org/blue-water-tas ... /beach/627.

Seems like something they would be interested in addressing if it is a problem.


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