Tests at sewage plant to cost city $2 million
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Testing pollution levels in ocean water near city-run sewage treatment plants will cost more than $400,000 in the next year and will add up to more than $2 million throughout the life of a five-year test plan.
The work is required by federal and state environmental regulations and will be extra important this year because the city is seeking a new federal permit to continue operating its largest sewage plant at Sand Island.
The facility discharges more than 70 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the ocean each day, and the city has been under increasing pressure to ensure that it poses no threat to humans or marine life.
The plant is one of fewer than 50 in the nation that operate under a special federal waiver and filter effluent to a lesser extent than is normally required. The city has long contended that a higher level of water treatment is not necessary and would be very expensive.
Monitoring the ocean around the plant and several smaller facilities costs more than $600,000 during the fiscal year that ends on June 30, environmental services executive assistant Tim Houghton said.
The estimated cost of $420,283 for testing in the coming year is about $3,000 less than officials previously expected, he said. The money comes from city sewer fees.
The testing includes examining fish caught near wastewater outfall pipes, sediment in the area and water.
The Sand Island plant is in the midst of a complex $390 million upgrade, but key parts of the project have fallen behind schedule and violate the terms of the current federal discharge permit.
Officials hope the water testing will help prove there is no need for additional modifications. Upgrading the plant from "advanced primary" to "secondary" treatment could cost as much as $500 million more, according to environmental services director Frank Doyle.
The city believes more intensive treatment is not needed because the effluent from Sand Island is discharged in deep ocean waters from a pipe that extends nearly two miles offshore.
Plants with secondary treatment typically discharge wastewater into shallower coastal waters or rivers or use treated water for irrigation.
Reach Johnny Brannon at 525-8070 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
