{"id":593185,"date":"2026-04-19T06:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/593185\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T06:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:48:16","slug":"boil-notice-issued-for-otake-mill-camp-areas-due-to-e-coli-detection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/593185\/","title":{"rendered":"Boil notice issued for Otake, Mill Camp areas due to E. coli detection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) has issued a boil water notice for residents in the Otake and Mill Camp areas served by the Waialua Sugar Pump 2 System due to an E. coli bacteria detection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The notice was issued late Friday for approximately 500 people served by the water system, owned by the Waialua Water Association.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Residents served by the Waialua Sugar Pump 2 system should not drink the water without boiling it, which kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The state health department said customers should bring all water to a boil, let it boil for three minutes, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Officials said boiled, bottled water, or water from an alternate source should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bacterial contamination can occur when increased run-off enters the drinking water, during a break in the distribution system, or a failure in the water treatment process, the state said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The health department said the water system has been tested regularly since the recent Kona low storms, and water samples collected on Thursday, April 16, tested positive for E. coli bacteria in both the water system\u2019s source wells and distribution system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The state said detection of E. coli bacteria at the source wells constitutes a Tier 1 Violation under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/dwreginfo\/ground-water-rule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/dwreginfo\/ground-water-rule\">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Ground Water Rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">HDOH said E. coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Human pathogens in these wastes can cause short-term effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a greater health risk for infants, young children, the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">If impacted customers experience any of these symptoms and they persist, they should seek medical advice. People at increased risk should seek advice from their healthcare providers about drinking this water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The health department said the water system is working with the state to implement corrective actions to ensure water supplies are protected against contamination, and is pursuing a temporary connection to provide interim service and treatment options for disinfection of source water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The state is also assisting with providing an alternate water source.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Waialua Sugar Pump 2 will announce when the wells are E. coli-free and when the boil notice is no longer needed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The health department said it may take several weeks to restore parts of the water system using the temporary connection. However, fully resolving the contamination at the source wells may take several months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Officials said they will provide more information once a firm timeline can be confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">For more information, please contact David Robichaux at (808) 368-5352.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) has issued a boil water notice for residents in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-593185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}