The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday said the city's Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant does not meet national water quality requirements and could require plant upgrades that the city estimated would cost $400 million.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the city is prepared to fight the EPA on the matter, saying that such upgrades are unnecessary and that the plant is not harming the environment.

The EPA said discharged water from the 'Ewa plant has levels of bacteria that exceed the national criteria and falls short of "water quality standards intended to protect marine life or human consumption of fish."

The EPA said it also is reviewing the city's Sand Island wastewater treatment plant. If both plants were upgraded to further treat wastewater, it could cost the city $1.2 billion, Hannemann said.

Such costs would mean most homeowners could pay $300 a month for sewer service within 20 years, Hannemann said. The mayor already has proposed a series of sewer fee increases that could raise the average monthly charge to more than $90 by 2011. The current average charge is less than $45.

Hannemann said he doesn't plan to ask for any more sewer fee increases, saying "we really believe we have a good case to push back on" the EPA.

"There is no scientific evidence that the Honouliuli plant or Sand Island needs to provide any more treatment than it is already providing," he said. He said a 1996 study and subsequent monitoring of the Honouliuli outfall have shown no adverse impact on the environment or public health.

Wayne Nastri, the EPA's administrator for the Pacific Southwest region, said the agency is willing to work with the city to cut bacteria levels.

"Our action today reflects that the Honouliuli plant does not meet the Clean Water Act requirements," Nastri said. "EPA will continue to work closely with the city to address its wastewater operations and ensure that Hawai'i's residents and marine life are protected."

The city has an EPA permit variance exempting the Honouliuli plant from "full secondary treatment requirements." The EPA yesterday issued a tentative decision against renewing that permit variance.

If the EPA's tentative decision becomes final, the city will be required to upgrade the plant to full secondary treatment, which Hannemann said would cost $400 million.

'ISOLATED EPISODES'

The city's Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant also operates under a federal waiver from full secondary treatment requirements. The city has applied to renew a permit variance for that plant as well, which Hannemann said could be denied by the EPA later this year.

Hannemann said there have been limited issues at the Honouliuli plant.

"Granted, there have been isolated episodes where the standards were exceeded (at Honouliuli), but there has been nothing to suggest a recurring pattern," Hannemann said. "The bottom line is no one swims near any of the discharge points, there is no danger to any of the marine life where there is discharge, and our (drinking) water is not impacted at all."

That's a narrow viewpoint, said Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter director Jeff Mikulina.

"Primary treatment is pretty crude," he said. "We can't treat our oceans like a dumping ground. ... There's a reason why the EPA is acting, and we're encouraged that they're taking this action," he said.

The EPA said that water quality testing showed the Honouliuli discharge exceeds toxicity and ammonia standards and "cannot be determined to be protective of indigenous fish, shellfish and wildlife."

Three recently collected wastewater samples also exceeded state Department of Health criteria for the pesticide dieldrin and two of the three exceeded criteria for the pesticide chlordane, the EPA said.

City monitoring and compliance branch chief Ross Tanimoto said the testing does not necessarily represent what's happening in the environment. He also said the city hasn't found any signs of the pesticides in sediment or fish tissue sampled around the discharge point.

The Honouliuli discharge point is at a depth of about 200 feet and approximately 8,760 feet offshore, the EPA said.

Dean Higuchi, press officer for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region, said although the wastewater discharge is not meeting water quality standards, "we are not seeing shoreline and beachwater quality samples exceeding the standards."

"So there's a little good news there," he said. "But you're looking at the discharge point; you're not maintaining water quality standards and you're not adequately at that point protecting anyone in that area who may use it for recreational waters or the marine environment in general."

27 MILLION GALLONS

The Honouliuli plant treats about 27 million gallons of raw wastewater daily and discharges treated water via the Barbers Point deep ocean outfall, according to the EPA. It has a secondary and tertiary treatment process that can process up to 13 million and 12 million gallons daily, respectively, for purposes of reusing treated water for irrigation and industrial uses.

The Honouliuli plant processes sewage and other wastewater from residences and businesses in areas including Waipahu, Pearl City and Halawa, as well as waste from liquid waste haulers and sludge hauled from the Wahiawa and Pa'ala'a Kai wastewater treatment plants, the EPA said.

The Honouliuli plant is operating under an EPA permit issued in May 1991. The city applied to renew the permit in December 1995, and the permit has been administratively extended since 1996, Higuchi said. The city updated the application in 2000 and in August 2004, Higuchi said.

The EPA's tentative decision will be available for public comment through May 29; a public hearing on the issue will be held May 15 at Kapolei Middle School. The EPA will make a final decision on the application after the public comment period.

In the meantime, Hannemann said the city is moving forward on hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to the sewage system, including work on force mains and a new solids handling facility at the Honouliuli plant.

He said he also will establish "my own EPA" — an environmental panel of advisers made up of local engineers and scientists who will advise the city on discharge issues and make a public outreach to those who have been "successful in battling with the EPA in these types of unreasonable mandates."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.