The Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management is requesting public input about a Draft Regional Wastewater Master Plan for Puako and other communities within the South Kohala District.
In addition to Puako, the region includes Kawaihae, Waimea and Waikoloa Village.
The draft plan is being prepared by AECOM Technical Services to study the cost effectiveness of providing wastewater collection and treatment facilities within the district. The purpose of the plan is to evaluate various alternatives to provide wastewater infrastructure to help reduce risks to human health and the environment resulting from the current reliance on cesspools in the project area.
The plan outlines recommendations for regional area wastewater infrastructure through a 30-year planning period from 2022 to 2052. The 2020 census recorded a population in the district at 19,900, with growth calculated to reach 31,000 by 2052.
The plan offers various alternatives for treating wastewater. The wastewater treatment alternatives located in Puako and the South Kohala District project area will be regulated by the state Department of Health Clean Water Branch.
The plan can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/yc2stzh8.
Currently, there are no county wastewater facilities serving, or being planned for, the project area. The area is being served by a mix of individual wastewater systems including cesspools and septic systems, and privately owned treatment plants. The individual systems are classified as on- site sewage disposal systems. Currently, most of the wastewater in the area is handled by cesspools. The DOH 2022 Hawaii Cesspool Hazard Assessment &Prioritization Tool Reports approximately 4,500 cesspools within the South Kohala District.
A cesspool is an individual wastewater system consisting of an excavation in the ground whose depth is greater than its widest surface dimension, that receives untreated wastewater, and retains or is designed to retain the organic matter and solids discharged into it, but permits the liquid to seep through its bottom or sides. Wastewater discharged from these type of systems is discharged directly into the seepage pit with no treatment.
There are 10 privately owned and operated wastewater treatment facilities located within the Puako and the South Kohala Project Area, mostly serving the resort area.
In 2017, the Hawaii State Legislature passed HB1244, signed into law as Act 125 by then Gov. David Ige which requires every cesspool in the state, excluding cesspools granted exemptions by the director of health, be upgraded or converted to a director of health-approved wastewater system or connected to a sewerage system by January 1, 2050.
Officials at the time estimated that there are approximately 88,000 cesspools statewide. Exemptions from the requirements may be granted by the DOH to property owners of cesspools that apply for an exemption and present documentation showing a legitimate reason that makes it infeasible to upgrade, convert, or connect the cesspools. Reasons include a small lot size, steep topography, poor soils or accessibility issues.
The plan looks at 14 alternate treatment options from individual wastewater systems for all residents to a variety of sewer systems connected to wastewater treatment plants. The capital costs for the treatment options range from $500 million to $2.2 billion.
Ranking of the alternatives will be based on feedback from the Department of Environmental Management, Department of Health and the public. The alternatives will be compared based on estimated construction cost, annual operation and maintenance cost, operational ease and maintainability, flexibility to meet potential future requirements, acquisition of land and environmental concerns and regulatory permitting.
“We have been meeting with the communities and they have good leadership taking the lead on getting the people within the community to come to an agreement to be able to potentially bring about 55% of the votes to be able to create a sewer district,” said Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour.
He said for Puako, a priority one area, his department has been meeting with staff from the privately owned American Water treatment plant at Mauna Lani Resort to potentially treat the wastewater, with the collection system being built and financed by the homeowners and eventually turned over to the county for operation and maintenance.
“In my view this is the best and fastest way to get them converted into an actual treatment plant,” he said.
Barbara Bell, steering committee member for Puako for Reefs, said the nonprofit recently was able to have a survey done which along with being informative, also raised more questions.
“We are able to give our community enough information to figure out how we are going to do this. It is a big project. We are still information gathering,” she said. “We are solely focused on protecting the reef through a sewer system.”
Bell explained that 50 years ago, the Puako reef had 70% coral cover. Today that has decreased to 7%.
“Sewage is the number one stressor of the reef. It is also the thing we can do something about,” she said.
Bell said she hopes they will be able to find funding sources such as grants and other means, easing the financial burden on the homeowners.
Comments or questions regarding the plan may be submitted by April 22 to https://tinyurl.com/55yt4h4x.
Based on the feedback received online and via public workshops, a Final Master Plan is expected to be completed in July.
Additionally, the county is hosting an in-person public workshop from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 8, at Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School Cafeteria.