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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, May 1, 2005

Sewer-line expansion draws opposition

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — New federal requirements have given new impetus to ambitious plans to expand the Big Island's sewer system, but the push will likely prove expensive for some businesses and homeowners.

James Marumoto, president and manager of Truck & Trailer Service Inc., doesn't want to connect to a sewer line that he and others never requested.

Kevin Dayton • The Honolulu Advertiser

Unlike the state's other counties, much of the sprawling Big Island is not connected to sewer lines or wastewater treatment plants. Thousands of homes and businesses in more remote areas outside of Hilo and Kona rely on cesspools instead.

Even in Hilo and Kona, county officials say it has been expensive to extend sewer lines into new neighborhoods, and many subdivisions in both towns remain on cesspools.

Cesspools are essentially pits, often lined with rock or brick, into which raw sewage is pumped. State and federal officials say cesspools are more common in Hawai'i than in any other state, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency says the systems pose serious environmental and public health risks.

Untreated sewage can leach into the ground, contaminating groundwater, streams and the nearshore ocean, according to the EPA.

Despite the environmental risks, sewer expansion has proven politically unpopular on the Big Island, and some property owners have refused to hook up even after the county ran sewer lines down their streets.

One such dispute has dragged on for years in Hilo's Kanoelehua Industrial Area. The developers of the Waiakea Shopping Center installed a new sewer line through the area in 1996 to serve the Hilo Wal-Mart, but business owners in the area were given a county exemption that meant they did not need to connect to the sewer line.

That exemption is no longer in effect, and some business owners are unhappy with the prospect of being required to hook up at their own expense.

James Marumoto, president and manager of Truck & Trailer Service Inc., said he doesn't see why the county would press him to connect his business to a sewer line that he and neighboring businesses never requested.

For some homeowners in the area, it could cost $5,000 or even $10,000 to hook up to the system, he said.

"I feel for the homeowners, the old people over there," Marumoto said. "They can't afford to hook 'em up. They'll go bankrupt."

Meanwhile, wastewater treatment plants built in Hilo and Kona in the early 1990s at a cost of $110 million are operating at only 50 percent or less of capacity, said Nelson Ho, deputy director of the county Department of Environmental Management.

With the EPA ban on large-capacity cesspools that went into effect in April, covering almost any cesspool that serves more than a single home or small business, the effort to tie more properties into the sewer system is gathering momentum.

County officials are planning to spend more than $41 million to extend Hilo and Kona sewer lines so large cesspools can be shut down on both sides of the island. Exactly how many property owners will have to hook up to the system will depend on the final routes the county selects for the sewer lines, Ho said.

In Hilo, the projects include a $3.2 million sewer line extension to the Komohana Heights subdivision and a much larger $15 million project to extend lines up Puainako Street to serve shopping centers across from the Prince Kuhio Plaza and University of Hawai'i at Hilo facilities planned for areas mauka of Komohana Street.

In Kona, the planned projects include an $8.8 million Queen Lili-'uokalani subdivision project to connect up homes in the Kealakehe area near Palani Road, as well as an $11 million North Kona Sewer Improvement District to extend lines north from Kealakehe to reach Costco and other Kaloko Industrial Park businesses.

An additional $3.25 million would be spent on the Kilohana Sewer Improvement District in North Kona.

Ho and others expect businesses and homeowners along the new lines will object to being required to hook up.

"There's always resistance when you require them to spend money," said County Councilman James Arakaki, who has served on the council since 1990. "The attitude is, 'Don't cost me any more money than you have to.' They look at it as a tax."

Arakaki said the EPA requirement that the county extend sewer lines to close large-capacity cesspools has diverted some of the political heat away from the county, making the process of expanding the sewer system a bit easier for officials.

"If the county puts in a lateral, they should hook up. It's for their own good, and it's good for everybody. Clean water is good for everybody," he said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.