KAILUA NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD NO. 31
KAILUA WATER QUALITY PSPHCD SUBCOMMITTEE
MEETING AGENDA
Thursday, April 10, 2025
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87824804337?pwd=vNkimU9B6tRflEpRJTVw1J9KHTZQbr.1
Meeting ID: 878 2480 4337
Passcode: 557632
Chair: Levani Lipton levani.knb@gmail.com Members: Kelli Ann Kobayashi, Kate Righter, Steve Trecker, and Gary Weller.
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Announcements:
a. Kailua Water Quality Data – Honolulu City and County Wastewater Treatment Plant has launched a new water quality data dashboard. Visit: https://www8.honolulu.gov/env/kailua-water-quality-data/
b. Sign up for brown water advisories and alerts: https://eha-cloud.doh.hawaii.gov/cwb/#!/landing . Brown water frequently occurs after storm events. For your safety, it is recommended not to enter the ocean or streams if they are brown or after a storm. If you have an open wound or cut, it is best to avoid the water until you are healed. Check the DOH website for alerts.
c. “FOLLOW THE DROP” is a stormwater mobile app that collects data on how much stormwater is being generated on a property and provides optimum types and sizes of stormwater capture solutions. Schedule a free rainwater assessment at: https://rainwaterhawaii.com to learn how you can use the app to minimize stormwater runoff from your property.
d. Stormwater Town Hall. A town hall addressing stormwater issues in Kailua with the Department of Facilities Maintenance and Councilmember Kia’aina will be held on Tuesday April 8, 2025 at Kailua Intermediate School at 6:00 pm.
4. Resident and Community Concerns
5. Old Business:
a. Storm drain maintenance
b. Culvert and channel cleaning maintenance schedule
c. Bacterial effluent exceedance in Kailua Bay & protocols
d. Stormwater Utility (now SWOOSH)
e. Status of 2008 and 2010 Stormwater BMPs
f. Status of Kawainui Levee Siphon
g. BMP violations
h. Mangrove removal
i. Cesspool conversions in Kailua
j. Kapa’a Quarry impacts on water quality
k. Akiohala Street CIP project
l. Hāmākua Genki Ball Study
m. Castles Beach and Kawainui Stream study
n. Street sweeping schedule & parking restrictions for pollution reduction
o. Kaelepulu Pond TMDL status
7. New Business
a. Text updates/alerts – for brown water/bacterial exceedances
b. NPDES Application
c. Permitted Interaction Group Possibility
8. Ongoing Discussion:
a. What pukas have you noticed in the government response to addressing pollution in our waterways?
b. What are your ideas for solving these challenges?
c. Sustainability of our natural resources: What steps can we take now to keep Kailua Bay and waterways thriving in the future?
d. Who are our allies in this effort
e. What community outreach and events are happening to promote awareness?
f. Who are the agencies and nonprofits who malama the ocean and waterways?
g. What steps can the public take to minimize pollution and maintain small footprints?
9. Adjournment
Kailua Water Quality PHPSCD Subcommittee
March 2025 Meeting Report
Chair, Levani Lipton
1. The subcommittee hybrid meeting was held in-person and via Zoom on March 13, 2025, chaired by Levani Lipton and attended by committee members Kelli Ann Kobayashi, Kate Righter, Steve Trecker, and Gary Weller; KNB members Bill Hicks and David Laeha; residents Anne, Bob Bourke, Mike and Michelle Compton with five scout members from the Kailua troop, Patrile Crile, Geoff Dozier, Rosemarie Grigg, Charles Laidley, Beverly Marica, Judy Mick, Maki Minamoto, Hiromichi Nago, Anuj Pawar, Steve Plat, Doug Seelig, and Cindy Turner; and presenters Lanya Konyu, Olivia Nigro, Justin Todd, and Carmella Vizza of Hawaii Pacific University.
2. A presentation “Effects of Genki Balls on Kawainui Water” was given by Lanya Konyu, Olivia Nigro, Justin Todd, and Carmella Vizza of Hawaii Pacific University.
3. Project Overview
a. The HPU Environmental Microbiology Team conducted a laboratory (tank) experiment and a field experiment investigating the effects of Genki Balls in Hāmākua Marsh from January 2023 to December 2024.
b. Study locations: Hāmākua and Waiʻauia canal
c. We deployed 100 Genki Balls across a 100m² area (1 ball per square meter) at one site in each location twice (January 21, 2024 and February 5, 2024)
d. Genki Balls are a mixture of mud, rice bran, molasses, and Effective Microbes or “EM”
e. EM is composed of 3 bacterial groups:
(1) Lactic Acid Bacteria (Lactobacillus spp.)
(2) Phototrophic Bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas spp.)
(3) Yeast (Saccharomyces spp.)
f. These bacteria can break down organic matter in areas with little or no oxygen WITHOUT producing hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), which is an odorous gas commonly found in anoxic marsh environments.
4. Tank Experiment Update
a. The research team’s analysis of the data collected during the tank experiment is nearly complete.
b. Results indicate that the addition of Genki Ball material did not improve water quality or reduce sediment organic matter in treatment tanks. While all tanks experienced a change in water quality over the 100-day study, control tanks (those without Genki Ball addition) had the highest water quality.
(1) The highest Genki Ball concentration (5 Genki Balls per 10-gallon tank) decreased water quality.
(2) These tanks had lower dissolved oxygen, increased anaerobic processes, and higher nutrients and total coliforms .
c. Sequence data from each Genki Ball indicated a community driven mostly by common soil bacteria, with very low abundance of the three EM bacterial groups in the replicates.
(1) EM bacteria were not found in the water or sediment of any tanks treated with Genki Balls.
(2) Tanks with the recommended Genki treatment amount (1 ball per square meter, scaled to surface area) had no evidence of EM or other Genki-derived bacteria in the sediment or water after ~ 30 days.
(3) Tanks treated with 10x the recommended treatment, saw a gradual decline of Genki-derived bacteria, with very little residing in tanks after ~ 90 days.
5. Field Experiment Update
a. Hāmākua and Waiʻauia have poor water quality.
b. Genki Balls had no significant impact (did not improve water quality) on any of our measured parameters including:
(1) Temperature, salinity, pH, DO
(2) Oxidation reduction potential or ORP (can indicate smelly anaerobic processes)
(3) Chlorophyll a (indicator of primary productivity & algal blooms)
(4) Nutrients (ammonium, nitrate, phosphate)
(5) E. coli abundance and total coliforms (fecal contamination indicator)
(6) Sediment organic matter (in lieu of sludge depth)
c. The temporal change in environmental data is influenced by precipitation events .
d. Microbiome data analysis is currently underway.
6. The Vizza and Nigro lab teams have submitted abstracts to the 2025 Hawaii Conservation Conference to present the work and findings from the Genki Ball study.
7. A recording of the presentation was made on Zoom. Please email levani.knb@gmail.com for a link.
To view agenda and minutes, visit our board website.
Event shows physical location; however, other options of participation may also include WebEx and phone. If available, instructions for WebEx and phone can be found at the top of the agenda.