KAILUA-KONA — Every day cesspools throughout Hawaii send an excess of harmful nutrients pouring into nearshore ocean waters and threaten to infiltrate the freshwater drinking supply.
KAILUA-KONA — Every day cesspools throughout Hawaii send an excess of harmful nutrients pouring into nearshore ocean waters and threaten to infiltrate the freshwater drinking supply.
Hawaii Island is home to tens of thousands of them, representing nearly half of the known cesspools used throughout the state.
With a deadline of 2050 to shut down every one of them, the state Department of Health has scheduled informational community meetings in both Kailua-Kona and Hilo to discuss the elevated risk cesspools pose and gather community feedback on the issue.
The department will host the Kona meeting from 6 to 8 tonight at the West Hawaii Civic Center’s Council Chambers. The Hilo meeting is set for 5 to 7 p.m. July 25 at University of Hawaii in Hilo.
The Department of Health wants first to address threats to human health.
“Where there is a somewhat elevated risk is from bacteria in shallow wells,” said Edward Bohlen, deputy attorney general who represents the department’s Wastewater Branch.
More than 6,000 cesspools should be replaced on Kauai in order to improve water quality, according to the state Department of Health.
