Third illegal dump site found in Waipahu

By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state Health Department has found a third instance of illegal dumping at or near the city's Waipahu incinerator site and will begin an investigation into what is buried there and how to treat it.

Frank Doyle, acting director of the city Department of Environmental Services, said he planned to inspect the new site on Waipahu Depot Road today.

He said he suspected the material was construction-related.

Before the latest discovery, about two truckloads of bricks and ash were found dumped illegally at the closed landfill, about 200 yards from the incinerator site. It was at the incinerator site where more than 200 buried appliances were discovered in March and subsequently removed.

A state investigation into the illegal dumping and burial of appliances at the incinerator and ash at the landfill continues.

An extraction plan has yet to be formulated for removal of the ash.

Cadmium, a heavy metal regulated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, was found during testing of the first brick and ash area, and the new area will also be tested.

"One of the things you look for is heavy metals," Doyle said. "We are fortunate in that we don't have any water table where that is located. It is not above an aquifer. At the same time we are in violation of putting material on a site that was already closed.

"We don't have all the answers right now (on the third site). We are approaching it slowly, but the bottom line is we will do whatever we have to do to take care of it."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.