Stop Shrimp Farm Water Pollution

Surfrider’s Kauai Chapter is celebrating a victory for nearshore water on west Kaua’i.  Sunrise Capital, Inc. owns the island’s only shrimp farm and was seeking a new water pollution discharge permit, known as an “NPDES permit” from the Hawai'i Department of Health. The Surfrider Foundation Kaua'i Chapter weighed in to address concerns about the facility’s impact on nearby waters including the Pacific Ocean, and the need to strengthen the permit’s water quality protections. The proposed permit, required under the federal Clean Water Act, allows the shrimp farm to discharge certain pollutants within certain parameters. Under the previous permit, residents have witnessed large fish kills that flow down the shrimp farm's ditches and end up in the ocean. The result is polluted and dangerous water. Surfrider Foundation Kauaʻi Chapter requested that the Hawaiʻi Department of Health (HDOH) hold a public hearing on the proposed new draft permit and for the permit to be denied or improved. HDOH held a public hearing on November 13th where Surfrider Kaua’i Chapter members, Earthjustice and local community members showed up calling for a stronger permit. On December 27, 2024 HDOH issued a final NPDES permit with improvements. Most notably, the new NPDES permit does not allow for a 6,000 feet diameter ‘zone of mixing’ which previously allowed water quality standards to be exceeded in nearshore coastal areas where people recreate. The final permit eliminates the zone of mixing and imposes pollutant limitations at the “end of pipe” from the shrimp farm instead, which is much more protective of nearshore water recreation and public health.