LIHU‘E — The island’s only landfill, Kekaha Landfill, opened in 1953. The landfill’s Phase I, covering 33 acres, cost $6.95 million. It operated for 40 years, until it was shut down in October 1993. Immediately after the shutdown of Phase
LIHU‘E — The island’s only landfill, Kekaha Landfill, opened in 1953. The landfill’s Phase I, covering 33 acres, cost $6.95 million. It operated for 40 years, until it was shut down in October 1993.
Immediately after the shutdown of Phase I, Phase II opened. It operated for nearly 18 years, shutting down last August. Phase II cost the county $16.3 million.
Phase II was originally permitted to reach a height of 37 feet above sea level, which should have allowed dumping until 2003, according to a 2007 Draft Environmental Assessment. But debris from 1992’s Hurricane Iniki caused Phase II to reach capacity by 1998. The maximum permitted height was then allowed to increase to 60 feet above sea level. In 2005, a second vertical expansion was approved, allowing Phase II’s height to reach 85 feet above sea level.
Phase II was projected to reach capacity by January 2009, but the administration was able to extend its use until last August.
After Phase II’s closure, the island’s solid waste shifted to being dumped at Cell 1, a small strip of land including a leachate lagoon adjacent to Phase II. Cell 1 is projected to operate until December 2014, costing the county $9.59 million, according to County Engineer Larry Dill.
Once Cell 1 closes, the county plans to start filling Cell 2, a narrow land corridor buffering Phase I and Phase II. Cell 2 is projected to operate until April 2018 and cost the county $10.94 million, according to Dill.
But dumping in Kekaha may not stop with Cell 2. The county is considering a vertical expansion (on top of Phase II, Cell 1 and Cell 2) after Cell 2 reaches capacity, raising the landfill’s permitted height to 120 feet.
The vertical expansion would stop in April 2021, when the county should have a new landfill in operation, according to the administration. A park is being proposed on top of Kekaha Landfill once it shuts down for good.
Once the landfill closes it will continue to cost taxpayers’ money, projected to surpass $18 million, according to county Finance Director Wally Rezentes. The administration is already building a restricted fund to be used as the landfill closes.
Last fiscal year, the county appropriated from its General Fund $490,000 to be added into the landfill’s closure and post-closure costs, now at $7.2 million, according to the county’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, released Thursday.
