{"id":201532,"date":"2024-08-07T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=201532"},"modified":"2024-08-07T07:56:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T17:56:48","slug":"coastal-water-quality-rebounding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/07\/coastal-water-quality-rebounding\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal water quality rebounding after Lahaina wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"instruments
Special monitoring wells were used to track groundwater movement and quality in the affected beach areas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The August 2023 Lahaina wildfire may have temporarily affected water quality in nearby coastal areas, but long-term impacts appear minimal, according to preliminary results from a recent University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa study.<\/p>\n

Researchers monitored polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs<\/abbr>), heavy metals, and a type of fecal indicator bacteria called Enterococci<\/em> in waters off Lahaina Beach and Puʻunoa<\/span> Beach, comparing them to unaffected areas. The study found that PAH<\/abbr> levels in water samples were higher in September 2023 but dropped to low levels by November. PAHs<\/abbr> were mostly undetectable in sand samples.<\/p>\n

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Closeup look at the monitoring wells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Low levels of heavy metals were found in both seawater and sand, but researchers noted no clear patterns over time. Bacteria levels also showed no significant trends.<\/p>\n

“The results indicated that while wildfires may temporarily increase PAH<\/abbr> levels, they may not increase the risk of heavy metal or microbial contamination to the coastal water environment,” said lead researchers Xiaolong (Leo) Geng, assistant professor in the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Department of Earth Sciences<\/a> and Water Resources Research Center<\/a> (WRRC<\/abbr>); and Tao Yan, professor in the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering<\/a> and WRRC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

The research team used special monitoring wells to track groundwater movement and quality in the affected beach areas. They also created a computer model to better understand how groundwater-driven substances move through the ground in Lahaina’s beach environments.<\/p>\n

“This study helps us understand how wildfires can impact our coastal ecosystems,” Geng and Yan added. “It’s crucial information for managing environmental risks after such disasters.”<\/p>\n

Researchers emphasize the need for ongoing water quality monitoring to ensure long-term environmental safety and to detect any delayed effects that may emerge over time. Geng and Yan\u2019s research team plans to submit their findings for peer-reviewed publication.<\/p>\n

The research team included Geng, Yan and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa postdocs and students, including Yangyang Zou, Min Ki Jeon, Edward Lopez, Mackaby Pennington and Gabrielle Justine Tapat.<\/p>\n

This study was funded by a $200,000 National Science Foundation RAPID grant<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study found that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons levels in water samples were higher in September 2023 but dropped to low levels by November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1477,179,1187,182,1467,1363,1597,1600,92,9,1043,347],"class_list":["post-201532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-civil-environmental-construction-engineering","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-earth-science","tag-engineering","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-maui-wildfires","tag-public-impact-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","tag-water","tag-water-resources-research-center","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201557,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201532\/revisions\/201557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}