Ōōkala is an unincorporated community on the island of Hawaii in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It lies along Hawaii Route 19 north of Hilo, the county seat of Hawaii County.Rand McNally. The Road Atlas '08. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2008, p. 30. Its elevation is 371 feet (113 m). Because the community has borne multiple names, the Board on Geographic Names officially designated it "Ōōkala" in 2000.Geographic Names Information System Feature Detail Report, Geographic Names Information System, 2003-09-30. Accessed 2008-04-08. It has a post office with the ZIP code 96774.USPS – Cities by ZIP Code
The community was in the news after the Hawaii Department of Health warned that the gulch near the community had contaminated water. This was the result of waste from a nearby dairy draining into the water. More recently the company, Big Island Dairy, has agreed to cease operations, to pay a fine and to remediate environmental concerns to prevent future waste water releases into nearby gulches by June 2019. In 2021 a Hawaiian couple bought assets from the shutdown dairy, with hopes of supporting sustainable agriculture.
See also Hamakua Coast
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