SPONSOR:
City of Honolulu, Department of Environmental Services
PROJECT PERIOD:
01/01/07 - 09/30/07
ABSTRACT:
This project is a continuation of WRRC's long term biological monitoring program at Oahu's wastewater outfalls. This project has been ongoing since the 1980's. Its purpose is to try to detect any changes in the marine biological communities that could be attributable to the sewage discharge.
These studies are done as part of an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the USEPA which allows the City to do less than the mandated secondary treatment before discharging the effluent to the ocean.
Several different types of study are performed including census' of small organisms (polychaete worms, micromollusks, crustaceans, etc.), surveys of bottom growth/sessile life forms, fish census', and fish tissue histopathology studies.
RESEARCH RESULTS AND FINDINGS:
To date there have been no changes in the communities observed that can definitively be attributed to the discharge from the outfalls. The project has generated an enormous data set over the years, representing one of the longest-term benthic community surveys ever done.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
