And the County wants to build more
by Rob Parsons |
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On
a warm Thursday afternoon, some two dozen people sat on metal folding
chairs inside the hollow-tiled walls of the Waikapu Community Center,
while fluorescent lights hummed and six ceiling fans spun lazily.
Outside, a Field of Dreams-esque ball field awaited the arrival of
after-school baseball practice, set to the panoramic backdrop of puffy
clouds pillowing atop the green hills above Waikapu Valley.
Inside,
County staff and citizens were assembled for the seventh monthly
meeting of the Community Working Group on Wastewater Reuse, established
after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a hearing
last August to hear testimony regarding West Maui injection wells. The
group was ostensibly organized to incorporate community input about the
Tavares administration's stated goal of re-using 100 percent of treated
wastewater, thereby eliminating the need to inject millions of gallons
daily deep into the ground adjacent to coastal waters where the
nitrogen-rich content has been linked to excessive algae blooms—and
worse.
But some of the 21 volunteer members of the working
group and members of the ad hoc DIRE Coalition (Don't Inject, Redirect)
believe that Tavares and County officials are not doing enough to
achieve those goals. Claims of withheld information and obfuscation are
clouding the waters and slowing down the process.
Working Group Woes
County
Department of Environmental Management Director Cheryl Okuma addressed
the two-dozen attendees at the working group meeting in Waikapu. She
summarized an April 27 Planning Commission meeting, when the panel
voted to "uphold the Planning Director's decision" regarding permitting
for two new injection wells to be constructed at Kahului. What she
didn't say is that the decision was the outcome of a contested case
filed by the DIRE Coalition and Save Kahului Harbor (Surfrider
Foundation was not granted standing), challenging the exemption to
Special Management Area review provided by then-Director Jeff Hunt, who
has since resigned his position.
Okuma went on to state that
an EPA letter sent in February does not mean the County is in violation
of its permits, but is about doing tracer and nitrogen reduction
studies to determine whether the County is in compliance. Finally, she
addressed claims in a leaflet from Save Kahului Harbor about an
increasing incidence of staph infections among swimmers and paddlers.
Okuma said she spoke with a University of Hawaii staff member who told
her staph cannot survive in a seawater environment.
Maui
Tomorrow Executive Director Irene Bowie, a member of both the County
working group and the DIRE Coalition, expressed her frustration after
the meeting. "Why bother with the working group if there's no accurate
information?" Bowie asked. "Back in December when we heard the
'Wastewater 101' presentation, we were told the eight wells in Kahului
were all operational. They never told us they were pursuing an SMA
exemption to construct two more."
"It is clearly new development in the SMA," insisted Bowie. "It was so wrong for Jeff Hunt to give the exemption."
Yet
the Planning Commission, acting without a hearings officer for the
contested case, voted 5-1 to uphold Director Hunt's exemption, meaning
the construction of two new wells will move forward unless the action
is challenged in court. The County maintains the new wells are
necessary to replace two wells that are clogged and not working
properly, with some 4-5 million gallons being injected daily from the
Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility.
In February, The Maui
News reported a rift between the DIRE Coalition and the Wastewater
Community Working Group. Former EPA attorney Jeffrey Schwartz was among
those calling for a complete re-use plan to be drafted by
mid-September, in advance of the primary election. "They told us, 'no'
to the subcommittees and 'no' to a plan," said Schwartz. "So what we're
actually doing is only planning to plan, not coming up with a way to
implement it."
The hurry-up request brought a rejoinder from
the Mayor's spokesperson, Mahina Martin, who wrote, "It's disappointing
that DIRE will politicize an important community issue and put their
own impatience ahead of everyone else who volunteered to serve on the
working group."
Schwartz further stated that the County has
been negligent in providing alternative solutions to injection wells by
now, and that 1,900 communities of varying sizes have been able to
replace that method of wastewater disposal.
EPA Scrutiny
At
the Lahaina meeting last August, Mayor Charmaine Tavares asked that the
EPA consider a five-year extension to existing permits on four
injection wells at the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility rather
than enforce more stringent conditions and requirements of new federal
Class V permits for underground injection control.
Marine
biologists and scientists reported studies indicating algae
proliferation in the Kahekili Beach area, where seeps of injected
wastewater percolate into the ocean. Surfers and divers reported
incidences of nasty staph infections including those diagnosed as MRSA
(methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
Meanwhile, the
Mayor unveiled the idea of using the nutrient-rich wastewater as a
resource and growing medium for algae in on-land holding tanks, to be
harvested and processed into biofuel. "An algae energy project will
move us closer to renewable energy sustainability, and at the same time
reduce our need to place treated wastewater into injection wells," said
Tavares, as reported in The Lahaina News. Some, however, criticized her
proposal as a pipe dream at best and a stalling tactic from EPA actions
at worst.
"Biodiesel from algae is 10 years off," wrote algae
expert Robert Henrikson. "Let Exxon, BP and government consortiums
invest $600 million in R&D to take the risks to commercialize this
unproven technology. Maui County should not be in this business taking
these kind of risks with taxpayers' money, just because algae biofuels
have received a lot of publicity and some biofuel company needs a
project. Maui has a waste treatment problem to clean up, and algae can
address the problem, but not as part of a algae-to-biodiesel venture,
with all its separate and additional risks."
In late January,
the EPA sent a certified letter to Maui's Department of Environmental
Management ordering, "Sampling and reporting under Section 308 of the
Clean Water Act for the County of Maui's Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation
Facility [LWRF]." It called for the County to submit by April 26, 2010,
an effluent and coastal seep sampling and analysis plan, to be followed
by a one-year sampling of the wastewater effluent. The EPA cited
previous studies that linked nutrient inputs from the LWRF wells to
effects in coastal waters.
"EPA is investigating the possible
discharge of pollutants to the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean
along the Kaanapali Coast of Maui," wrote the agency. "In 2007 and
2008, the University of Hawaii [study by Meghan Dailer, Robin Knox, et
al.] and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted ambient tracer
studies, which found substantial evidence that injected effluent from
the LWRF is emerging from submarine springs into the coastal water
around Kahekili Beach Park along the Kaanapali coastline. In order to
assess the impact of the LWRF's effluent on the coastal waters and
determine compliance with the [Clean Water] Act, EPA is requiring the
County to sample the injected effluent, sample the coastal seeps,
conduct an introduced tracer study, and submit reports on these
activities and findings to EPA."
On March 15, Director Okuma
responded to the certified letter, which she referred to as a
"request," despite EPA's language: "The Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 9 (EPA), hereby requires…." Okuma's letter asked under
what authority EPA was "requesting" off-site data collection, sought
clarification on the nature of tests and timelines (though both are
provided in the EPA letter) and raised the issue of County financial
restraints.
"The County asks that the deadline for submitting
a revised sampling plan be deferred pending resolution of the related
issues," Okuma wrote. At the Waikapu meeting she stated, "EPA will sit
down at the table and discuss this with us." Working group members did
not press for details.
"[The EPA letter] was an enforcement
order, not a request," insisted Robin Knox, a water quality scientist
with 25 years of experience, including regulation and permit writing.
She noted that EPA has already taken significant steps to address
groundwater pollutants, including a mandate to retire large-capacity
cesspools.
Knox, also a DIRE Coalition member, was present
when EPA officials met with Mayor Tavares last December—a meeting also
attended by Earthjustice attorney Paul Atchitoff. Knox recalled the
EPA's Region IX Water Division Director cutting short Tavares's spiel
on a 10-20 year plan for algae-to-biofuel production by interjecting,
"Pardon me Mayor, you have one year" to provide an adequate plan to
comply with permit requirements.
"By fighting this, the County
is wasting time and dollars that could be put to solving the problem,"
said Knox. She noted that the EPA has taken special interest in Maui,
and that she was part of a group that took representatives snorkeling
to show them where treated wastewater from injection wells
is bubbling up near the shores.
"In the 11 years between
1997 and 2008, it is estimated that 51 billion gallons were injected,
much of it with inadequate disinfection. That equates to four million
pounds of nitrogen over that time period," Knox said.
Knox and
others believe the wells should abide by the parameters of the Clean
Water Act rather than the less restrictive Safe Drinking Water Act. She
believes the data in studies she assisted with, as well as USGS
reports, provide a rational nexus whereby a National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit should be required.
Knox,
who runs a water quality consulting business, also questioned Okuma's
assertion that staph bacteria cannot exist in a saline environment.
"Maui has one of the greatest incidences of staph per 100,000 people,"
she told the working group. The recycled freshwater dilutes the
salinity and is more buoyant, which can bring pathogens to the surface
where snorkelers, paddlers and surfers are, said Meghan Dailer, marine
biologist and co-researcher with Knox.
The May issue of
Environment Hawaii contains several articles on the Maui wastewater
issues. A 1992 quote from the State Department of Health underscores
the fact that this issue didn't bubble up overnight. "If the algae
problem is attributed to the operation of the injection wells, a
critical issue will focus over the compliance requirements of the Clean
Water Act," reads the quote.
"The County is not in a favorable
position with the EPA," warned Knox. "The County and ratepayers and
taxpayers now have a huge liability."
Misplaced Funding
At
the working group meeting, County-hired consultant Craig Lekven of
Brown and Caldwell presented a comparative study of nationwide
water-reuse programs, with examples from Tucson, Arizona, Westminister,
Colorado, St. Petersberg and Altamonte Springs, Florida, Irvine,
California, and a Cities and County alliance in Washington state. The
study covered amount, type and driver for the water resuse, and funding
sources.
Steve Parabicoli, County Water Recycling Program
Coordinator, appeared unimpressed with the presentation. "Craig, we
already did this study," Parabicoli said after the 45-minute
presentation. "We just need to do more of what we're already doing."
Yet
momentum toward wastewater reuse and away from dependence upon disposal
via wells is hampered by one primary factor: cost. New transmission
lines to areas where the water may be used for irrigation and
agricultural purposes could be cost-prohibitive. And in some cases,
nearby agricultural landowners have not been willing to accept the idea
of receiving the irrigation water, notably in Kahului.
Federal
stimulus money could be used for such projects, as in the 1970s when
funds were disbursed to help municipalities, including Maui, construct
modernized wastewater treatment facilities. But it's not clear that the
Tavares administration is shovel-ready with any plans.
"Kauai
was ready with a plan and got federal stimulus money for their
wastewater treatment that generated construction jobs and cleaned up
the ocean," wrote Karen Chun of the Kahului Harbor Coalition in a
recent letter to The Maui News. "Maui missed the boat because we
weren't ready with plans."
Chun was referring to a related
issue, wherein Maalaea condo owners worked with former Councilmember
Michelle Anderson and U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono to obtain a federal grant
to phase out old cesspools and injection wells in that area, which has
perhaps the most dramatic coral reef decline of anywhere on Maui over
the past two decades.
Chun said the Department of
Environmental Management is using another, "delaying tactic," calling
for a $180,000 water quality study by a questionable consultant, rather
than implementing a plan to protect the ocean from underground
pollutants.
Chun also believes it is possible that the Feds
may not reimburse Maui County for the water quality analysis, because
"the grant is for a plan and the County has hired out for
a study."
Though the County was apprised in late January
by the EPA about the requirement for studies at the LWRF, no County
budget request was submitted to conduct them. Late last month,
Councilmembers Wayne Nishiki, Sol Kaho'ohalahala and Joe Pontanilla
expressed their displeasure over the omission, and inserted last-minute
budget provisions to address the need for studies and EPA compliance.
Maui
resident John Seebart has testified at a number of hearings related to
County injection wells. "I think we have a right to a higher standard
by the people we employ in County government. It may well be that with
the magnitude of the problem, and the fact that this is a Mayoral
election year, the appointment of the WWG was a panicked attempt to
slide by and postpone this for another year, or longer, and the
soldiers have their marching orders," he wrote.
"We may not have
the money," Seebart continued, "but the solutions are not rocket
science. The County needs to act, or pay the consequences."
Bowie
concurred. "We've been stuck in a paradigm of what is best for
Wastewater Division, which used to be a pipeline to the ocean," Bowie
said. "We're really looking for a willingness to move forward, and do
so swiftly, not just deny that problems exist."
What is an injection well?
An
injection well is a long, narrow pipe placed vertically in the ground.
Partially treated wastewater is injected into the pipe. The wastewater
is then absorbed into the soil and treatment is theoretically completed
before it reaches a water source like the ocean.
There are 18
County-operated injection wells on Maui: eight in Kahului, four in
Lahaina, three in Kihei and three on Molokai. Depending on the season,
about 80 percent of wastewater is currently processed through injection
wells.
Source: County of Maui