As the state Health Department stepped up monitoring of water quality at two more sites in and near the Ala Wai Boat Harbor this week because of concerns about bacteria levels, harbor residents called for more information about daily bacterial counts in the harbor and said they're taking extraordinary precautions not to come in contact with the water.

"Prior to the spill I didn't have any trouble jumping in to clean the bottom of my boat," said resident Sam Monet, who has lived on a boat in the harbor for seven years. "Now I wouldn't put my toe in it.

"I want to see the bacteria levels posted daily," Monet said. "From day one I've called the Health Department and they're not posted on the Web site."

Because of concerns expressed about bacteria levels in the harbor since Oliver Johnson's death from a virulent seawater bacteria a week ago after a plunge into the harbor, the Health Department is consider-ing posting daily bacteria counts on the agency's home page.

Health Department spokesman Kurt Tsue said he's awaiting approval from the department's Clean Water Branch and the city, which cooperate to test points all the way from Magic Island through Waikiki and along the canal.

The two new harbor sites were added Saturday, Tsue said. They include the canoe and boat launching ramps, one of which is in the middle of the harbor.

Previously only one point near the harbor — on the Magic Island side of the channel finger — had been a test site.

The harbor was contaminated after the city diverted 48 million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal beginning March 24 after a sewer main break on Kai'olu Street.

The canal empties into the harbor. Yesterday, a mucky collection of effluent, garbage and stream runoff was still floating along the first row of boats opposite the Prince and Ilikai hotels, just beyond the Ala Moana bridge, and along the boats parked in Row 600.

A spokesman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources — which has responsibility for the condition of the harbor — said the department is getting bids to have a company clean those areas, but that may not happen until next week.

"It's still in the talking stages," said DLNR spokesman Clifford Inn. "We're going to try and remove some of the wood and debris that's floating. Some may be harboring bacteria."

In the meantime, harbor residents continue to have a variety of concerns — from the smell that's been wafting across the area, especially at tidal change, to their fear of the water and the general conditions that include 120 condemned berths that have been sitting empty for two years waiting for money for repairs.

People live on boats in 129 of the 699 operational berths.

While a handful of signs posted around the harbor the day the sewage diversion began warn people not to enter or swim in the water, harbor residents say it's almost impossible to completely stay out of the water.

Pets jump into it. Children may accidentally fall into it. And items blow into the water from the boats.

"Everyone who lives on a boat has probably fallen in the water," said harbor resident Kate Johnson (no relation to Oliver Johnson).

After she was in a serious bicycle accident more than a month ago that required surgery and now crutches, doctors were concerned about letting her go home to a boat in the harbor.

Coupled with worry about what's in the water, "it's made a horrific difference in our living style," she said. "Now I can't walk to the dock without my boyfriend being there. I have to do it very carefully. I'm very, very cautious."

Dr. Stephen Holmes, who lives with his wife and two dogs aboard a 70-foot boat berthed in the harbor, said something blew off his boat into the water the other day and he didn't know whether to retrieve or abandon it.

"It's the stress of not knowing how poisonous that water is," Holmes said.

"They're getting bacterial levels at Ala Wai or the beaches, but those of us who live in this sewer have no information."

Holmes said it's been difficult to get definitive information about whether or not recent conditions increased the danger of harbor waters.

"They've put up notices — 'Don't get into the water' — but sometimes you have to, inadvertently, and you're going to get that water on you," he said. "So it would be appropriate to issue notices to the residents or to the harbormaster saying 'Here's the bacterial level.'

"They post signs, but we don't know how dangerous it is. If I had kids down there I'd be going crazy."

Others are equally upset.

"A lot of us need to clean our boats and we can't go in the water," said Carey Johnston, another harbor resident.

The sewage situation has slowed business at DaStore, which offers gasoline, showers and laundry services, plus pump-out facilities for residents to empty sewage holding tanks.

Salesclerk Remi Thompson said few are fueling up, only a couple of boats a week pump out, and the beer supplies are stacking up in the store's iceboxes because sailors and surfers aren't there to shop.

"Nobody wants to go sailing. No one goes surfing," she said.

Thompson, also a harbor resident, says she's afraid to pull in a wet line from her own boat.

"I don't want it to touch me," she said. One line was caked with sludge, she said, and once she cleaned it off and sprayed it with disinfectant she made sure she washed well.

"It's just gross to say I'm living in a sewer," she said, noting that folks are now calling the Bowls surfing spot "Toilet Bowls."

While the live-aboard harbor residents say most take responsibility for their own sewage and abide by rules prohibiting dumping or littering within the harbor, state enforcement officers say it's almost impossible to catch anyone who is dumping illegally and adding to the contamination.

Some residents say they believe some dump sewage into the harbor even though residents can lose moorings if they're caught.

But longtime DLNR employees can't recall the last time anyone was cited, said spokesman Inn.

"That is a difficult one for us to enforce because you have to see someone littering," he said. And then, the Health Department needs to immediately test the water.

Health Department enforcement officer Mike Tsuji agrees that illegal sewage dumping into the yacht harbor by individual boaters is virtually impossible to monitor.

"It's hard for anybody to find they're doing it," he said.

As of Monday, bacterial counts in the harbor were high — 230 for enterococci at the boat ramp, and 7 for clostridium, two markers for sewage.

The state allowable levels for recreational waters are 7 for the former and 5 for the latter.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.