Ka‘ū News Briefs Saturday, May 19, 2018

Ash covers a car in Pāhala.

Ash on leaves in a yard in Pāhala Photo by Julia Neal

KĪLAUEA IS AN EXPLOSIVE VOLCANO and not the gentle volcano that most people have lived on, said Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Don Swanson, during a press conference today.
     "Recent research shows that over the last 2,500 years, Kīlauea has been on a dominantly explosive period more than half the time.” He explained that Volcano Golf Course Clubhouse, where the press conference was held, “is on more than a foot of volcanic ash that was deposited between 2200 years ago and a thousand years ago. On top of that foot, there are several inches of ash that were erupted between about 1500 and 1800 AD. Those were large eruptions, and the series of eruptions lasted a long time. But they demonstrate the explosive character of Kīlauea.

     “More recently, in May of 1924, we had a series of much smaller eruptions – so small that you can’t find their deposits here, or anywhere outside of the caldera. They killed a person because the person got too close.

     “The current eruption, we think, is directly analogous to what happened in 1924: small eruptions preceded by a lava lake withdrawal out of sight by many felt earthquakes in the summit area. And then, by interaction of hot rocks with probably the groundwater, and perhaps with magmatic gas.

Channelized lava flows originate from a merged elongated fountaining source between fissures 16 and 20 in Kīlauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone. USGS photo

     “I really wanted to put this activity in perspective: this didn’t come out of the blue. We’ve had a lot of explosions at Kīlauea in the past. The reason we hadn’t realized that until recently is that, for the almost 200 years that Westerners have been in Hawaiʻi and have kept written records, there were only the 1924 explosions that took place, so we thought that Kīlauea was normally a docile that erupted lava flows that can do tremendous damage, but were not explosive.

     “We now know that is not that case, and that, unfortunately, we’re living through a proof of that statement.

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Rep. Richard Creagan, who opposes the location and  cost of the proposed wastewater treatment plant.

REP. RICHARD CREAGAN OPPOSES THE PROPOSED  OF THE PROPOSED NĀʻĀLEHU SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT. He wrote a letter to Hawaiʻi County Council, ahead of its special meeting this Tuesday, May 22, at 9 a.m.
     The treatment plant is proposed to replace the large capacity cesspools serving the old sugar plantation housing area in Nāʻālehu. The cesspools are illegal nationally and the EPA could levy heavy fines on the County of Hawaiʻi, which has taken over the old plantation system.
     At preliminary public information meetings held in April to solicit community input for the project, opinions on the location were against placing it next to Nāʻālehu School.
    Creagan wrote: "I am writing in opposition to the proposed sewage treatment plant in Nāʻālehu which would be located essentially immediately adjacent and up wind from a non-airconditioned public elementary school.
     "My grounds for protest are primarily the totally insensitive, dangerous, and unnecessary choice of a location unanimously opposed by the affected community. Other grounds for my objection are lack of consideration or provision for public comment, the lack of an alternative, the ridiculous cost compared to potential other options, and the failure to comply with established procedures.
     "I beg you to reconsider this hostile and unconsidered project that will make the public-school environment potentially unpleasant and hazardous and cause great stress to the school staff, the students and to their very unhappy families.
     "As a physician as well as a state legislator, I strongly oppose this location."
      During the public meetings county representatives said they would take the request to move the location back to the county. They also described the proposed treatment system as much better for the environment than septic tanks. Individual septic tanks would be difficult to fit in the small lots in the old sugar housing area in Nāʻālehu and would have to be pumped and the solids carried away.
      County consultants explained that individual wastewater systems are intended for temporary use, until a centralized wastewater treatment plant is provided by the County.

Map of proposed location for wastewater treatment plant, to the east of Nāʻālehu Elementary School.

       The state Department of Health supports the plans to sewer the area with a natural process lagoon style treatment system, using oxygen, soil, plants and trees to break down and absorb the wastewater. It would require less maintenance, and would have the potential for expansion and future use by both existing and new businesses and homes in Nāʻālehu, as well as meet EPA and state and county requirements, explained consultants for the county during meetings last month.
     Sandy Demourelle, of Na`alehu, wrote to The Kaʻū Calendar: "It is a great opportunity for the school and its parents, friends and other concerned people to offer oral testimony right here in Nāʻālehu," in the old state courtroom where there is interactive video with the County Council. "Even if people don't want to speak, just their presence in the room will impress the (Council) - and the older students could make signs expressing their feelings."
     The Council will consider Capital Improvement Project funding at the special meeting on Tuesday. Remote public attendance is available at the old courtroom in the Nāʻālehu State Office Building, 95-5669 Māmalahoa Hwy, from 9 a.m. until public testimony is closed. Written and video testimony are due before noon on Monday, May 21, to counciltestimony@hawaiicounty.gov.