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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 30, 2003

Landfill site options kept open

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

The City Council yesterday put on hold a bid to prohibit building landfills over drinking water aquifers, as several members argued it would limit options for landfill sites.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi initiated the motion to send the resolution back to the Public Works Committee.

"I'm afraid this resolution will box us in and limit our options," said Councilman Charles Djou, who supported the deferral.

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Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who initiated the motion to send the resolution back to the Public Works Committee, noted that the deferral does not mean the council supports placing landfills where they could potentially contaminate O'ahu's drinking water supply.

But the deferral keeps alive all 44 potential sites for new landfills on O'ahu, which is running out of room to bury its trash. If the resolution had passed it would have left only nine sites eligible, primarily in Leeward and Windward O'ahu.

Councilman Charles Djou, who supported the deferral, said, "I'm afraid this resolution will box us in and limit our options."

The issue arose in response to an application by a private developer to build a landfill at Pu'umaialau Gulch in Kunia. The site is over the Pearl Harbor Aquifer, the island's largest water resource.

Even if the council were to approve a location over a groundwater aquifer, the state permitting procedures require the owner or operator to prove there is no potential for migration of hazardous contaminants into the aquifer. The state Department of Health has raised serious concerns about the proposed Pu'umaialau Gulch site.

In addition, city administration policy is to not place landfills over the island's drinking water supply. Tim Steinberger, director of the city Department of Environmental Services, said, "Our procedure is already such that it would have to be an absolute emergency before we would consider putting anything above the no-pass line."

Proponents of the landfill said improving technology can keep landfills safe from drinking water supplies.

Landfill candidates

The city has evaluated 44 potential sites for a landfill. Of those sites, the following are not over the city's drinking water sources:

  • Ameron Quarry (Kailua)
  • Auloa (Windward O'ahu, intersection of Kamehameha and Kalaniana'ole highways)
  • Bellows (Waimanalo)
  • Kapa'a (Kailua)
  • Ma'ili (Leeward O'ahu)
  • Makaiwa (Kalaeloa)
  • 'Ohikilolo (Ka'ena)
  • Waimanalo Gulch Expansion (Kapolei)
  • Waipi'o (Central O'ahu)

Source: City & County of Honolulu

Sanae Tokumura, a spokeswoman for ERS Corp., the consultant for Central O'ahu Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., which has proposed building the Pu'umaialau Gulch landfill, said yesterday's action allows the council "to study further the opportunities that our many professionals and engineers and scientists can provide to them, possibilities that we have as a community to dispose of our waste safely. Because we're on an island, I can't see where else we would put this if we were to practically rule out over 90 percent of the island's surface."

The vote was 6-3 to defer the resolution, with Gary Okino, Mike Gabbard and Nestor Garcia voting no.

Okino said the chief engineer of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply has testified that landfill technology can protect the aquifer for decades, but not centuries. "As long as there are people here, if there is any breach in the landfill's protection, it would be calamitous for us to even try to clean it up," he said.

Gabbard, who introduced the resolution, argued, "Until landfill technology is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, we simply cannot afford to risk the health and welfare of our residents in the name of expedience, convenience and profit."

Also at yesterday's meeting, the council gave final approval for land acquisition for a park and parking structure on Aloha Drive in Waikiki, as well as a zoning change in Waiawa that will allow Gentry Investment Properties to expand its subdivision.

Reach Treena Shapiro at 525-8070 or tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.