Water alerts
Is the water safe today?
Brown water advisories, beach advisories and sewage spill notices for Hawaiʻi Island, as issued by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Clean Water Branch.
Active now
2 alerts are in effect.
Checked Oct 7, 8:28 AM HST · DOH Clean Water Branch ↗
- Brown Water AdvisoryIssued
Hilo Bay along the Hamakua Coast
- Issued
- Sep 28, 2026
- Status
- In effect
- Cause
- Rain
A Brown Water Advisory has been issued at Hilo Bay along the Hamakua Coast on Hawaiʻi.
- Brown Water AdvisoryIssued
Ninole beach area
- Issued
- Sep 17, 2026
- Status
- In effect
- Cause
- the runoff and debris from Hurricane Lala
A Brown Water Advisory has been issued at Ninole beach area on Hawaiʻi.
Reading the alerts
What each one means.
The Department of Health samples beaches on a schedule and posts an alert when something is off. These are the five kinds you’ll see, in their terms.
- Brown Water AdvisoryIssued
- Storm runoff has turned coastal water brown or murky. Runoff carries soil, debris, chemicals and wastewater off the land, so pollutant levels can be far above normal. DOH advises staying out of affected water for 48 to 72 hours after the rain stops and the beach has had full sun.
- Beach AdvisoryIssued
- Routine sampling found enterococci bacteria above the State threshold of 130 per 100 mL. Warning signs go up, and the advisory stays in effect until samples fall back under the threshold.
- Beach NotificationIssued
- One sample came back high at a beach that usually passes, so DOH is retesting before deciding whether to post an advisory.
- Sewage SpillIssued
- Raw or partially treated wastewater reached the water, usually from a sewer line, a pump station or a treatment plant. Stay out until the warning signs come down.
- Permit ExceedanceIssued
- A permitted discharge, such as a treatment plant's ocean outfall, exceeded its bacteria limits.
Why we watch this
Rain is the trigger. The ground is the source.
Most alerts on this island follow heavy rain. Runoff carries whatever is in the ground to the shoreline, and on Hawaiʻi Island that ground holds about 48,600 cesspools releasing about 29 million gallons of untreated wastewater a day.
At Puakō, UH Hilo researchers traced dye from shoreline cesspools to the ocean in as little as 6 hours. Young, porous lava rock doesn’t filter much on the way.
Converting a cesspool is one of the few things a homeowner can do that shows up, eventually, in numbers like these.
Start My Property CheckSources: UH Hilo — Puakō sewage dye-tracer study (2021) · Identifying locations of sewage pollution within a Hawaiian watershed (J. Hydrology: Regional Studies, 2021)
Recently canceled
The last 15 alerts.
| Type | Where | Issued | Canceled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sewage Spill | Puhi Bay | Sep 22, 2026 | Sep 28, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Keokea Beach Park to Ka Lae Point (South Point) | Sep 8, 2026 | Sep 11, 2026 |
| Beach Advisory | Punaluu Beach Park | Aug 26, 2026 | Sep 17, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Honuapo to Punaluu | Aug 25, 2026 | Sep 17, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Hamakua Coast to Hilo Bay | Aug 25, 2026 | Sep 28, 2026 |
| Beach Advisory | Hilo Bay (Canoe Beach) | Aug 25, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Beach Advisory | Honolii Cove (Ocean) | Aug 25, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Island of Hawaiʻi | Aug 15, 2026 | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Beach Notification | Honolii Cove (Ocean) | Aug 11, 2026 | Aug 12, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Hilo bay and along the Hamakua Coast | Aug 11, 2026 | Aug 15, 2026 |
| Beach Notification | Spencer Beach Park | Jul 23, 2026 | Jul 24, 2026 |
| Beach Notification | Honokohau Harbor, south | Jun 2, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 |
| Brown Water Advisory | Hilo bay and along the Hamakua coast | Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Beach Advisory | Keokea Bay Beach Park | May 15, 2026 | May 21, 2026 |
| Beach Notification | Keokea Bay Beach Park | May 14, 2026 | May 15, 2026 |
Alerts are issued and canceled by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Clean Water Branch; ʻĀina Force republishes them as a public service and isn’t the issuing agency. The full history for every island is on the DOH site. ʻĀina Force helps homeowners navigate cesspool conversion by coordinating information, introductions, documentation, and communication. Engineering, permitting, installation, and inspections are performed under separate agreements by appropriately licensed independent professionals and contractors.
