The head of the city's Environmental Services Department last July foreshadowed with eerie precision the catastrophic environmental consequences of waiting too long to address problems with the Waikiki sewer main that ruptured last month.

The Advertiser obtained a copy of a July 2005 memo, written by department director Eric Takamura, in which he proposed a fast-tracked fix and warned what might happen eight months before that sewer line failed on March 24 and caused a massive discharge of raw sewage into waters off Waikiki.

Takamura predicted "major health impacts in a very short timeframe" and "discharge of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal, the Ala Wai Harbor and the Waikiki and Ala Moana beach areas."

Takamura's memo said: "A failure would create significant short- and long-term impacts to the residents and visitors to Waikiki as wastewater service would either be non-existent or limited by temporary bypass measures."

In seeking an exemption from city procurement regulations, Takamura said overhauling the sewer force main "must proceed without further delay." But Takamura later withdrew the plan because it would not have saved enough time to justify going outside the normal contracting process, according to documents and interviews.

Takamura said he proposed the fast-track funding because the traditional procurement process is lengthy. But he said the budget office raised questions about not going through usual procurement channels and the quick alternative started bogging down.

"We saw that it was kind of taking a long time," he said, adding he did not want to risk further delays.

HIGH-PRIORITY PROJECT

Takamura said design began two months ago and the deadline for completion is set for October. Then the city will review the bids and try to award the contract by the end of December. That would mean construction could begin in early 2007, Takamura said, although it may take two to three months to secure permits.

Takamura said yesterday he proceeded quickly in tagging the project as a high priority once he saw staff reports on the age, corrosion and other factors, but he didn't see it as an impending disaster.

"They never once told me it could break any day," Takamura said. "They just said we need to put in a replacement."

Environmental advocate attorney Lea Hong represents the groups pushing the city in federal court to improve the sewer system. Hong said she wasn't aware of the Takamura memo but knew that the city had identified that sewer main as a "very critical" area.

Hong said it was clear that city officials for decades had ignored some problems, so clear priorities now need to be set.

"A project of that magnitude does take quite a long time to implement," she said.

Hong said she doesn't think the city could have rushed to construction within the last eight months. "Something that large generally takes some time to design and build," she said.

But Hong added, "Of course, our position is that certainly more attention should have been paid to this in the past."

PERMANENT PIPE SOUGHT

City spokesman Bill Brennan said that even if the city had adopted Takamura's proposal, overhaul of the Waikiki sewer line never would have been completed before last month's sewage spill.

"It wouldn't have made any difference," he said. "This was a three-year project — a permanent replacement line" that Takamura was proposing, Brennan said.

"There was some question as to whether it was practical or advantageous for us to go outside the state procurement law" in the way that Takamura suggested, Brennan said.

After the pipe ruptured, the city ordered the release of an estimated 48 million gallons of raw sewage over a six-day period into the Ala Wai Canal.

The sewage discharge polluted waters off the Ala Wai and caused some of Waikiki's most famous beaches to be posted as off-limits due to the contaminated water and the high bacteria levels.

The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring the city to provide a detailed written description of the rupture of the 42-inch pressurized sewer pipe, "description of steps taken to minimize discharge of untreated wastewater to waters," and water quality monitoring data. The city must provide that report by next week.

EPA STEPS IN

EPA officials also are requiring detailed descriptions of the repair work, details of the recent inspections of the sewer main in this area and other background information.

Kathi Moore, manager of the EPA's regional Clean Water Act compliance office in San Francisco, said she couldn't comment in detail about the Takamura memo, but added it does show that Honolulu officials knew eight months ago that the pipe, known as the Beach Walk force main, was something they needed to address.

"They knew it was a vulnerability," she said.

Moore said the federal agency wants to help improve the aging sewer system by working with the city and the state Health Department.

"What we want to focus on really is that the money be put into the repair and replacement of the collection system on O'ahu," Moore said. "That's the most important thing, to get out there and start fixing some of these problems that have existed on O'ahu for many years."

MEMO WARNINGS

The Beach Walk pipe had been flagged as problematic at least eight years ago.

Takamura's memo also warned: "Failure to move expeditiously on this critical project risks substantial fines from the state of Hawai'i."

The memo was written July 11 to Mary Pat Waterhouse, director of the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, who is chief procurement officer of the city.

Takamura wanted to shortcut the normal planning and procurement process, which typically begins with award of a design contract and later award of a construction contract.

Instead he proposed a speeded-up "design/build" process in which the work would be performed by a construction company in partnership with planners.

CONTRACT ISSUED

In an accompanying memo that justified the expedited contract award process, Takamura said, "Quick movement on this project when funds are available in July 2005 is essential given the overdue status of this project."

That July 11 memo said the contract would last three years and would cost $32.5 million. Of that total, $30 million would have gone to construction, $1.5 million to design and $1 million to construction management.

In the end, Takamura withdrew the proposal and design of the replacement line was added to an existing consultant contract held by R.M. Towill Corp. for planning and design of improvements to Waikiki's Beach Walk wastewater pump station and associated sewer lines, Brennan said.

Brennan said the Towill contract was awarded in 1998 and the amendment was approved by the city on Feb. 14.

According to Brennan, the cost of the Towill consultant contract did not increase and the February amendment added "detailed design taskings" to the contract.

Further information about what work the Towill firm performed from 1998 through last year and how much it was paid was not available yesterday from the city or from R.M. Towill.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com and Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.