In their battle to reduce the threat of cesspools contaminating groundwater and streams or leaking into the ocean, state officials have added a carrot and dispensed with the stick.
In their battle to reduce the threat of cesspools contaminating groundwater and streams or leaking into the ocean, state officials have added a carrot and dispensed with the stick.
Beginning next year, homeowners can write off up to $10,000 of the cost of converting a cesspool into a septic tank system. Priority will be given to cesspool owners who upgrade cesspools that affect public drinking water wells and are within 200 feet of the shoreline, streams or wetlands. In addition, the state Department of Health may certify up to two large residential gang cesspools as a pilot program.
The Health Department, meanwhile, has retracted a proposed rule that would have required cesspools be converted to approved septic systems within one year of sale or other transfer of the property. A new, less onerous rule is in the works and will go out for public hearings sometime in the future, a spokeswoman for Gov. David Ige said Monday.
Ige on Friday signed the tax credit bill for cesspool upgrades, a bill sponsored by Rep. Nicole Lowen, D-Kona. Lowen said the bill is especially important for Hawaii Island, home to more than half the cesspools in the state. The county is one of the few, if not the only, county where cesspools are still permitted with new homes, she said.
“We’re kind of like the cesspool capital of the nation,” Lowen said.
There are approximately 90,000 cesspools in the state, with almost 50,000 located on Hawaii Island, approximately 14,000 on Kauai, more than 12,000 on Maui, more than 11,000 on Oahu, and more than 1,400 on Molokai.
The Legislature capped the tax refund bill at $5 million, which would limit it to 500 units, if every homeowner used the maximum $10,000 allowed. The law expires Dec. 31, 2020.
Fellow Big Island Rep. Richard Onishi, D-Hilo, was one of seven House members who voted against the bill. Onishi said Monday he wanted the program to be income-based. A sliding scale based on income would have been more equitable, he said.
“I think it’s a great idea in terms of getting people to connect,” Onishi said, “(but) I felt that there are people who have the ability to pay for it.”
Onishi said he also opposed the mandatory hookup rules originally proposed by the Health Department.
“I think in general, the concern over cesspools was warranted, but the question is how to go about it,” Onishi said.
Lowen also has a bill banning new cesspools in the state, but that one has yet to clear the Legislature.
She said she’ll continue her push for solutions.
“The focus on the most sensitive areas … We’ve got to start somewhere,” Lowen said. “It’s always a work in progress.”
Former Gov. Neil Abercrombie had advocated the rule change to meet federal clean water requirements and to battle pollution of coastal waters and drinking water supplies caused by human waste bacteria.
But the rules met with a storm of protest in public hearings and in more than 230 written comments. After taking office, Ige balked at signing the rules, having said on the campaign trail that counties should have had more input from the beginning.
Sina Pruder, Wastewater Branch chief for the Health Department, did not return a message by press time Monday.