Streams and groundwater around two illegal dumps raided this month on the Wai'anae Coast have not been contaminated, inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have found.

Officials are continuing to remove lead, PCBs and other hazardous materials from the sites, on Hakimo Road in Nanakuli and Haleahi Road in Wai'anae Valley.

Armed government agents on May 13 raided the 10-acre Hakimo Road site. Officials found 55-gallon drums containing chemicals along with large amounts of gasoline, hundreds of gallons of waste oil, hundreds of tires, a large number of discarded automobile batteries and used automobile antifreeze, which contains lead.

The Haleahi Road site was discovered about the same time. The two sites are unrelated, officials said.

The volume of toxic and hazardous materials found has not been released by federal officials. Officials are still working to remove "hot spots" of high levels of lead found on the Hakimo Road property, said Dean Higuchi, EPA press officer.

"The key message is that everything that was there that could have been a potential hazard will be removed," Higuchi said. "We're still working on the sites as far as cleanup goes."

Illegal dumping is a common problem along the Wai'anae Coast, said Patty Teruya, chairwoman of the Nanakuli-Ma'ili Neighborhood Board. The community has complained for years and was happy to see the EPA's involvement, she said.

"It doesn't surprise us that there would be an illegal dump," Teruya said. "It's a beautiful coast. We have pristine mountains and ocean. But there's a lack of enforcement and if we don't start soon, we'll be all screwed up."

Officials found leaking containers of oil that were found to have the solvent perchloroethylene, which is used in dry cleaning, and polycholorinated biphenals, or PCBs, an oil used in electrical transformers, on Haleahi Road near Kaupuni Stream.

"We're working with the state and the county to encourage people not to dump stuff," Higuchi said. "We're trying to prevent people from illegal dumping. There are proper places where things can be taken and accepted."

Some area residents don't understand why it's not right to leave barrels and drums filled with liquid to rust on properties, said Jo Jordan, chairwoman of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board. "There's so much open space," she said. "We're so secluded out there, people don't realize what kind of illegal stuff goes on.

"It's an issue of educating people. More raids like what happened at Hakimo Road, the more the public will understand that it's not right to leave barrels and drums behind. The stuff in the barrels can kill you."