Many Kauaians are trying to comply with a Tuesday, April 5 deadline imposed by leaders with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove large-capacity cesspools serving homes, businesses and government structures, a state health official on Kaua‘i reported. The deadline
Many Kauaians are trying to comply with a Tuesday, April 5 deadline imposed by leaders with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to remove large-capacity cesspools serving homes, businesses and government structures, a state health official on Kaua‘i reported.
The deadline marks a nationwide attempt by EPA to step up efforts to protect the environment and underground water systems from exposure to untreated sewage that could pose health risks, indicated Joe Tateyama, an environmental engineer with the state Department of Health’s wastewater branch on Kaua‘i.
Tateyama said the number of phone calls and e-mails he has received from Kauaians shows many islanders are attempting to comply with the EPA mandate.
Kauaians have forwarded their conversion plans to government officials, and “people are doing it, and some have completed their up-grades,” Tateyama said.
But getting a handle on how many cesspools are being converted, or likely to be converted, is difficult, because there exists no current inventory of them, Tateyama said.
“For those who are aware of the problem, they are doing their share. But there are many people who are not, and that may be the problem,” Tateyama told The Garden Island.
The rule does not apply to single-family homes with cesspools.
The rule applies to two or more dwellings served by one large cesspool, and apartment complexes in which two dwellings are served by a single large cesspool, Tateyama said.
Leaders at Gay & Robinson, the last operating sugar company on Kaua‘i, operate at least three large-capacity cesspools in the Makaweli area, according to Howard Greene, director of environmental compliance with the company.
“We are in compliance. We have submitted an inventory to DOH on cesspools we have, and we have design work, and we are awaiting the outcome of a number of funding sources (government grants to replace the cesspools),” Greene said.
“We have three large-capacity cesspools that are registered with the DOH (and one definitely serves plantation homes for company employees).”
A few more large cesspools may be identified, but Gay & Robinson leaders are awaiting a final determination from EPA leaders in San Francisco, Greene said.
Greene and Tateyama said it was their understanding that Gay & Robinson leaders and other residents would not be fined if the work is not done by April 5, as long as they showed a plan and schedule for compliance.
“Gay & Robinson has been actually working on this since day one, when the rule came out,” Greene said.
EPA leaders promulgated the rule in 1999 and, partially realizing the cost involved in converting cesspools to septic tanks, have given until April 5 of this year for people to be in compliance with the rule, Tateyama said.
“The work has been held up due to financial hardships imposed by this regulation,” Greene said. “We have been seeking EPA loans and grants that haven’t materialized yet.”
Securing the grants would mean that Gay & Robinson leaders would not have to raise rents for employees living in plantation housing in Makaweli, Greene said. Keeping the rents low would enable employees to “continue with their lifestyle,” Greene said.
Greene thanked EPA officials for their working relationship with Gay & Robinson, “especially Shannon Fitzgerald, head of the large-capacity closure program for EPA in San Francisco.”
EPA officials also have been in contact with Kaua‘i County leaders with plans to replace cesspools that currently serve some county parks and neighborhood centers that are not linked up with the county sewer system.
“EPA has visited the islands, collected data, and knows where the large-capacity cesspools are,” Tateyama said. “And (the operators of) those identified properties should have received a letter (of inquiry about compliance with the EPA requirement). But that is not to say that EPA has identified all properties.”
Tateyama also said that some schools, which are under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Education, also are required to have the cesspool-septic tank conversions.
A large-capacity cesspool is either one that discharges untreated sewage from multiple residential dwellings or a system in a “nonresidential” area, such as business located away from a sewer system, that serves 20 or more people on any day, EPA officials said.
Tateyama said he sends data on identified cesspools to EPA headquarters in San Francisco, and a final determination on compliance is made by officials there.
Failure to close or upgrade a large-capacity cesspool by April 5 could result in fines of up to $32,500 each day for each large-capacity cesspool that is in operation after April 5, EPA officials said.
The fines, however, are likely to be a non-issue if people are showing a willingness to comply with the EPA requirements, but can’t make the April 5 deadline, Tateyama said.
An alternative to using a large-capacity cesspool includes connecting to a waste-water-treatment plant to treat sewage before disposal of into the ground, EPA officials said.
Officials said cesspools are more widely used in Hawai‘i than in any other states because “other states have banned cesspools, more so than we have,” Tateyama said.
“We are a rural community, and cesspools are found in older communities,” Tateyama said. “They (cesspools) have been allowed to continue with no access to public sewer systems.”
