Raw Sewage Sneaking Into West Hawaii’s Coastal Waters Threatens Coral Reefs and Public Health, Scientists Find

For generations, West Hawaii’s picturesque coastlines have been a gathering place for fishing, swimming and ceremony. But those sacred waters are also gathering something else.

Using airborne mapping, field sampling and advanced statistical analysis, researchers at Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science in Hawaii revealed that nearly half of West Hawaii’s coastline is being quietly contaminated with raw sewage.

As a result, coral reefs in bays like Hōnaunau are struggling to flourish, weakening ecosystems that people rely on for food, and harming their ability to protect coastline communities from erosion and rising sea levels. The sewage-contaminated ocean water not only threatens the environment but also exposes swimmers to E. coli, salmonella a