New Maui Water Tester

BY BUCK QUAYLE

Maui Water Tester

Maui has a new environmental health specialist in charge of monitoring the quality of the island's coastal and fresh waters.

Tim Prior assumed the post May 10 after two weeks of orientation with the State Health Dept. in Honolulu.

Prior said he is taking water samples twice a month for analysis from 22 locations around Maui. The samples are sent to Maui Memorial Hospital for a bacteriological count.

On a quarterly basis, samples from 10 locations will be sent to the State Dept. of Health laboratory in Honolulu for more detailed analysis.

West Maui sampling sites include Fleming Bay, Napili Bay, the Mahinahina condominium, Hale Ono Loa, the Sheraton Hotel at Kaanapali, Mala Wharf (both shore and pier-end samples), the Lahaina sewer outfall at the end of Ala Moana Street, the Lahaina small boat harbor, Olowalu and the Maalaea small boat harbor.

Other sample sites include Makena, Kaa shoreline, Kahului breakwater (east), Hukilau Hotel, Wailuku breakwater, Waiehu Stream, Waihee shoreline, Kaapahu Bay, Hana Lighthouse, Honomanu Bay and the Paia sewer outfall.

Some 65 samples will be taken this summer around Maui in a one-time check, the new Maui water tester said. Special surveys will be conducted at the Kahului Harbor, Iao Stream, the Naska area of Kahului, Kalama Park and Kamaole Park. Prior said the Makawao area also is under consideration.

In addition to his sampling duties, Prior will be involved with educational work and public lectures. He will handle fish kill reports and check into complaints, conducting special surveys of problem areas.

Prior said another area in which he is involved is the effluent sampling program. Under this program, persons of organizations holding a State Health Dept. Discharge Permit-which allows discharge of waste water and sewage into the ocean-must provide samples of the waste twice a month.

The samples are sent for analysis to a Honolulu laboratory. Prior is responsible for monitoring the program on Maui.

Discharge permits are held by the Pioneer Mill Co. of Lahaina, the Maui Land & Pineapple Co., the Wailuku Sugar Co., and the State Dept. of Transporation. The County of Maui holds permits for the Lahaina, Wailuku, Kahului and Paia sewage outfalls.

Maui Electric Co. has applied for a permit.

As new Maui County environmental health specialist, Prior succeeds Dennis Nakamoto, who quit earlier this year to accept a job in private business.

Prior holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the State University of New York at Oswego, and taught high school biology in Lancaster, New York, for two years. He has completed three years of graduate work in oceanography at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, specializing in larval fish growths.