Posted on: Saturday, March 5, 2005
Cesspool overflow shuts school
By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer
A cesspool overflowed at Kahalu'u Elementary School just as classes began yesterday sending the school's 202 students home for the day.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser State crews are repairing the cesspool, and the school will reopen Monday, she said. No cost estimate for damage was available.
Goya said parents were called to pick up their children, and the school, on Waihe'e Road in Kane'ohe, was closed as a health and safety precaution.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Hawai'i has at least 1,500 large-capacity cesspools that pose a contamination danger to the state's drinking water, streams and beaches.
Large-capacity cesspools were banned in December 1999, and they must be closed or upgraded by April 5, including the one at Kahalu'u Elementary School, or owners face up to $32,500 in fines per day.
Those who can't make the deadline are required to notify the EPA and to submit a plan approved by the state Health Department.
Sewage flooded through classroom Building B, which was cleaned and disinfected by school staff, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Sandra Goya.
Kahalu'u Elementary principal Amy Arakaki and Castle-Kahuku Complex superintendent Lea Albert oversee cleanup after a cesspool overflowed and flooded a building at Kahalu'u Elementary.
