Current and former owners of the Crouching Lion Inn restaurant have agreed to pay a $42,000 fine for failing to close large capacity cesspools at the Kaaawa restaurant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement the restaurant has closed its four large capacity cesspools and installed a septic tank wastewater system approved by the Hawaii Department of Health.

"This agreement supports our continuing focus on closing large capacity cesspools to protect drinking water sources," Alexis Strauss, director of the EPA's water division for the Pacific Southwest region, said in a new release. "Over three years have passed since large cesspools needed to be closed. EPA will continue to pursue violators, and assess penalties as warranted."

A large capacity cesspool is one that discharges untreated sewage from multiple dwellings, or a non-residential location that serves 20 or more people on any day. The regulations, which prohibit large capacity cesspools as of April 2005, do not apply to single-family homes connected to their own individual cesspools.

Cesspools discharge raw sewage into the ground, which results in disease-causing pathogens and other contaminants – such as nitrates – polluting groundwater, streams and the ocean. Cesspools are used more widely in Hawaii than in any other state.