Updated at 5:59 p.m., Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Interim agreement aims to prevent major sewage spills
Advertiser Staff
The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Hawai'i Attorney General's Office, and the Hawai'i Department of Health today reached an interim agreement with the City and County of Honolulu that aims to correct significant problems in Honolulu's wastewater collection system."I am pleased the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health have approved this aggressive effort to upgrade our force mains. We need to do this work," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said yesterday.
"With this agreement, we will be addressing that portion of our wastewater collection system that had not been addressed in the federal consent decree in 1995."
The settlement resolves a civil enforcement action that the United States and the state filed against the city.
"This agreement will result in measures by the city to prevent catastrophic spills from O'ahu's most vulnerable sewage pipes," Wayne Nastri, the EPA's Administrator for the Pacific Southwest region said in an EPA news release.
"We will continue to work with the city to improve its wastewater system."
Laurence Lau, state Department of Health deputy director for Environmental Health, said in the release: "This settlement is an important step in improving Honolulu's waste water management, and we look forward to further steps by the city."
On March 24, 2006, Honolulu's Beachwalk force main burst, spilling an estimated 50 million gallons of sewage. For five days before repairs could be made, the city pumped raw sewage into the Ala Wai canal, which runs into the Pacific Ocean. Contamination from this event resulted in high levels of bacteria in coastal waters, and led to the closure of beaches in Waikiki for one week. This interim settlement is intended to prevent repeated large force main spills. The settlement requires Honolulu to:
The city's sewage collection system for O'ahu contains numerous force mains. Force mains are pressurized pipes which carry sewage from residences, as well as commercial and industrial sources, to wastewater treatment plants. The EPA, DOH and the city analyzed these force mains and concluded that force mains at six locations were most vulnerable to future failure: Beachwalk, Ala Moana, Hart Street, Kane'ohe/Kailua, Waimalu and Kahala.
As in other cities, the force mains in Honolulu are a critical link in the network of pipes that convey sewage to the city's wastewater treatment plants. Because force mains operate under pressure, even a small break can result in a large spill and a lengthy repair job. Unlike gravity flow pipes, force mains cannot carry sewage flow during the repair process. In the event a break occurs in a large volume force main and no backup is available, there is often no alternative but to release the untreated sewage to nearby waterways.
The current agreement is an interim settlement because it addresses only some of the problems in the city's wastewater collection system.
In addition to the force mains addressed in the agreement announced today, the city's wastewater collection and treatment system includes many other features which are the subject of other regulatory processes and legal proceedings. As a next step, it will be the intention of federal and state governments to attempt to reach a comprehensive resolution to the city's remaining wastewater collection and treatment challenges.
The settlement, recorded today in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawai'i, will be available for a 30-day public comment period before the U.S. seeks court approval of the settlement. A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice Web site at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
