Is there still a sewage problem on Oahu? Are all the beaches clean and swimmable again? We are going next week and starting to worry.

All of the beaches are open and safe.

I and many others won't even go on the sand yet. People catch infections from the sand alone still. You can't say there won't be lasting effects for awhile. I compare it to the air at ground zero...only later do we learn of the damage. And the run off is still bringing sharks on the north shore too. I'd head out to the Leeward side.

Islandmom,

This is what I was trying to get across to people in my thread entitled Are Tourist Dollars More Important than Tourists Health? I got lambasted for it. If there is high bacteria counts in the sand why are they openeing the beaches to tourists and locals? It sounds like I have the answer to my question.

When they say sand and water is contaminated with high bacteria counts, does it apply to Waikiki only? Or Leeward, Northshore, etc.?

I would NOT swim in the ocean. We just returned from a nightmare trip to Oahu. (check my oahu report) We were there when they had to dump the sewer into the ocean. We were told it would be atleast 2 months before it was safe to swim in Waikiki. It was also unsafe at numerous beaches all over the island. Do not risk it! We didn't have the best time in Oahu but you still will have fun doing other things. I had lots of excuses to go shopping!! Of course, the tourism industry is going to say it's safe. Just check where the "clean" beaches are on the island. I know they didn't dump sewer everywhere. Atleast, you'll get some sun. We had 6 hours of sun out of 7 days!!Enjoy the sun!!

We were also there when they were doing the dumping. Luckily we were up in Kahala so we didn't have to smell it. We ventured down to Waikiki 1 day out of five and couldn't wait to get back to the Kahala. Between all the construction. The Royal Hawaiian shopping center is being done over to and it takes up 1-2 blocks, as well as the Beach Walk project. That area looks like a bomb went off. There were wall to wall people because no one could go swimming and then the rain on top of that. Why would tourists waste their time going to Waikiki with the sewerage problem and all the construction going on. They had better bring a big fat walet to buy gas to tour the other parts og the island and to shop, shop, shop. Hopefully their hotel has a BIG pool because the rest of the hotel will be fighting for poo space too.