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Hawaii Water Quality — August 16, 2026

New advisory posted at Hapuna Beach — and what it means for the rest of Big Island

BIG ISLAND
-36pp worsening (64% of days without an island advisory)
MAUI
+29pp improving (93% of days without an island advisory)
OʻAHU
+14pp improving (14% of days without an island advisory)
KAUAʻI
-14pp worsening (0% of days without an island advisory)

New DOH advisory activity in the last 24 hours affected 13 tracked beaches: Anaehoʻomalu Bay (A-Bay), Hanakaʻoʻo Beach Park, Hapuna Beach, Honoliʻi Beach, Hoʻokipa Beach Park, Kahaluʻu Bay, Kaʻanapali Beach, Keawakapu Beach, Magic Sands Beach, Makena Beach, Mauna Kea Beach, Spencer Beach Park, Wailea Beach. Check the linked beach page for the specific advisory type and live DOH status.

If you have a trip scheduled at an affected beach in the next 72 hours, consider the reef-protected alternatives in our where-to-swim-during-BWA guide. The 72-hour rule applies once the rain stops.

Where the islands stand today

Big Island

worsening

Big Island is worsening over the last 14 days (-36pp vs. the prior two weeks). All 7 of our tracked beaches on the island recorded one or more advisory days in that 30-day history window. NOAA's 7-day forecast is wet (peak 52% chance of rain) — expect the pattern to shift toward more advisories. See the Big Island leaderboard for the beach-by-beach ranking.

Maui

improving

Maui is improving over the last 14 days (+29pp vs. the prior two weeks). 6 of our 6 tracked beaches on the island recorded one or more advisory days in that 30-day history window. NOAA's 7-day forecast is wet (peak 71% chance of rain) — expect the pattern to shift toward more advisories. See the Maui leaderboard for the beach-by-beach ranking.

Oʻahu

improving

Oʻahu is improving over the last 14 days (+14pp vs. the prior two weeks). 2 of our 12 tracked beaches on the island recorded one or more advisory days in that 30-day history window. NOAA's 7-day forecast is wet (peak 98% chance of rain) — expect the pattern to shift toward more advisories. See the Oʻahu leaderboard for the beach-by-beach ranking.

Kauaʻi

worsening

Kauaʻi is worsening over the last 14 days (-14pp vs. the prior two weeks). Our 6 tracked beaches happen not to overlap with the DOH advisories driving this signal — the worsening trend is from island-wide or other-area advisory events. NOAA's 7-day forecast is wet (peak 97% chance of rain) — expect the pattern to shift toward more advisories. See the Kauaʻi leaderboard for the beach-by-beach ranking.

NOAA 7-day forecast, per island tourist coast
  • Kohala Coast, Big Island: wet (max 52% chance of rain across next 7 days)
  • South Maui (Wailea / Kihei): wet (max 71% chance of rain across next 7 days)
  • South Shore O’ahu (Honolulu / Waikiki): wet (max 98% chance of rain across next 7 days)
  • Po’ipu, Kaua’i: wet (max 97% chance of rain across next 7 days)

For the always-live per-island outlook, see our Hawaii Water Quality Forecast, which regenerates daily from NOAA + DOH data.

Get the Daily Hawaii Water Quality Report

New report every day: trend per island, NOAA forecast, and 30-day advisory-free leaders and most advisory-affected tracked beaches. Free — unsubscribe anytime.

Methodology: The island trend uses Hawaii DOH island-wide advisory-day history where available: a day counts as advisory-free only when no DOH advisory was recorded anywhere on that island. If island history is unavailable, the generator labels its tracked-beach-fraction fallback explicitly. The separate beach list summarizes 31 tracked beach histories. Forecast data comes from NOAA National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) at each island's primary tourist coast. This report is not a swim recommendation; always check the individual beach page and current local conditions before entering the water.