Posted on: Friday, April 15, 2005
EPA extends cesspool deadline
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
NU'UANU — Five federal, state and county agencies that missed an April 5 deadline to close their large-capacity cesspools have signed consent agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency that will give them several extra years to find alternatives and avoid fines of as much as $32,500 a day.
The agencies operate 401 cesspools statewide, said Wayne Nastri, the agency's Pacific Southwest regional administrator, who announced the agreements yesterday.
The closures represent a small portion, however, of the estimated 2,000 large-capacity cesspools statewide, and the EPA believes that tally could grow by a thousand. No state in the nation uses cesspools as widely as Hawai'i.
All of them are subject to a Safe Drinking Water Act requirement to rid the state of those types of cesspools because they discharge raw sewage into the ground, which pollutes underground water, streams and the ocean with disease-causing pathogens and other contaminants.
"These cesspools impact our waters and streams and beaches," Nastri said. "These are things we need to get a handle on and control."
The agreements cover cesspools at Kalaupapa National Historic Park, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Pohakuloa Training Area, Kilauea Military Camp, state-owned and managed housing areas, parks and boating facilities, and Kaua'i County parks and facilities.
The five agencies are the National Park Service, U.S. Army, Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Kaua'i County.
A large-capacity cesspool is one that discharges untreated sewage from a multiple dwell-ing or a nonresidential location that serves 20 or more people on any given day, according to the EPA. The April 5 ban does not apply to single-family dwellings.
EPA officials announced the agreements at the Queen Emma Summer Palace, which is owned by the DLNR and sits near a gurgling stream. Peter Young, DLNR director, said the department will link the palace to the city sewer system.
The palace cesspool is one of 60 used by the agency. Under the agreement with the EPA, all of them must be closed by June 30, 2009, Young said. This will cost the state $16.5 million.
So far, lawmakers have given DLNR about $9 million to make the change, he said. Young hopes the rest will be approved by the Legislature this session, but if it isn't, he does not anticipate fines from the EPA.
"We'll make a significant dent," Young said. "The EPA knows we have a pending request with the Legislature and that we have had support in the past."
EPA officials are encouraging those who still use large-capacity cesspools to come forward, promising yesterday that they would review each case for a possible consent agreement rather than impose fines immediately. But Nastri noted that the agency has engaged in an outreach program for several years.
"If there are those who think 'I don't need to do this' and they come to our attention, they need to know there are penalties," Nastri said. "I don't want to rule anything out. But clearly, if their intention is not to be in compliance, that's an issue."
So far, the EPA has only signed consent agreements with the owners of four private apartment complexes in Kailua — Coral Apartments, Kailua Arms & Windward Apartments, Kailua Palms and Town & Country Apartments. Each owner also received an $11,000 fine.
"Because of their proximity to the coast, the cesspools are going into the groundwater," said John Kemmerer, associate director of the water division for EPA's Region 9. "Most of Kailua is on the sewer system but these, unfortunately, were not."
Kemmerer said more consent agreements with private owners are likely.
"We need to look at those responsible and what they have done to try to comply with the ban and how serious the environmental threat is," Kemmerer said.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
