The state is about $1 billion short of the funds needed to convert more than 80,000 cesspools into something more environmentally friendly.
At a Tuesday meeting of the County Council’s Communications, Reports and Council Oversight Committee, members of the state Cesspool Conversion Working Group presented their findings, but could offer no clear solutions.
Summing up the Working Group’s final report published at the end of 2022, consultant Cami Ishida said there are about 82,000 cesspools in the state, 48,000 of which are on the Big Island. Together, the Big Island cesspools alone discharge about 29 million gallons of wastewater per day, which presents a threat of contamination to the island’s groundwater and streams.
Under a mandate to close or convert all cesspools by 2050, the county will have to consider how to shift those 29 million daily gallons of waste into environmentally sustainable systems. But Ishida told the committee that no matter what option the county selects, the cost will be exorbitant.
Ishida said there are three options that are most feasible for converting cesspools: connecting households to a centralized sewer system, connecting them to decentralized neighborhood sewers, or individual wastewater systems for each household.
Depending on the option, Ishida estimated that the cost to convert a cesspool ranges from $10,000 to $38,000 or even higher, depending on the site conditions. Based on a statewide analysis of socioeconomic factors, this price tag would put conversions out of reach for 94% of the state population, and 98% of the Big Island’s.
“Clearly, Hawaii County has the most cesspools out of all counties, but they also have the least access to centralized sewers,” Ishida said, explaining that 71% of Big Island households have no sewer access.
Because of this, Ishida said that robust financial assistance programs will be essential to get cesspools converted by the mandated 2050 deadline, including a $10,000 federal household rebate and a 30-year, $30 million federal grant and loan program. But even assuming that those programs are available and that every eligible household takes advantage of private financing — such as taking out a second mortgage — there will still be a funding gap of $1.1 billion, Ishida said.
County Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour said that, in order to meet the 2050 deadline, the county will have to convert about 1,700 cesspools per year.
“We haven’t even started,” Mansour said. “We are already behind the 8-ball.”
But the county may not even have 27 years to complete the process. Sina Pruder, director of the state Department of Health’s Wastewater Branch said that the Working Group recommended that higher-priority cesspools — such as those around Kailua-Kona — be converted by 2030, and mid-priority pools — around Hilo — be converted by 2035. A pair of bills are active in the state legislature that would make those recommended deadlines into law.
Mansour said his department is developing a series of regional wastewater treatment master plans for individual districts around the island, including Puna, Hilo and Kohala. When completed — he said the last one is expected to be completed by 2025 — those plans will be synthesized into an island-wide wastewater master plan.
But, North Kona Councilman Holeka Inaba noted, if the bills advancing the conversion deadline pass, the county can’t afford to wait until 2025 to ramp up conversion efforts.
“I’ll wrap this day up with a big, loud ‘crap,’” concluded Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.