Ka‘ū News Briefs Thursday, May 24, 2018

A proposed location for the new Nāʻālehu Wastewater Treatment Facility is next to Nāʻālehu Elementary School. It would serve the former sugar camp housing - which currently use gang cesspools, which are banned nationally. The facility would be expandable for growth of the town and for use by existing businesses. However, most testimony at meetings in April and yesterday's County Council meeting opposed the location. See story below. Map from County of Hawaiʻi

AN ASH EXPLOSION AT 6 P.M. FROM KĪLAUEA SUMMIT REACHED 10,000 FEET above sea level. Civil Defense warned that ash could be headed toward Pāhala and urged residents to stay indoors with windows closed. Close vehicle windows and "drive with extreme caution, or pull over." Strong winds at ground level during the afternoon were down to 10 mph by 7 p.m. in Volcano and Pāhala. These winds could bring the ash to Pāhala at about 9 p.m., unless carried faster by any stronger winds at higher altitudes.
     About a dozen ash explosions are erupting from Halema‘uma‘u at the summit of Kīlaeua Volcano every day, said Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park's Jessica Ferracane to the press today. Not all the explosions achieve a great height, but many have been between 5,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level. The highest since the eruptions began was 30,000 feet.
     Ashley Sears of NOAA told the press the prevailing winds this week were strongest today, with gusts up to 25 miles per hour possible. The winds headed to the southwest, blasting Wood Valley, Kapapala Ranch, and Pāhala with ash. The winds picked up ash that had settled on the Kaʻū Desert and transported it further. Ash from the streets, buildings, and grounds in Pāhala blew around the town.

The ash plume as it happened, at 6:30 p.m., then ten minutes later. USGS photos

     USGS scientist Wendy Stovall said the summit of Kīlaeua Volcano was very cloudy today, but photos taken from atop Mauna Kea recorded plumes rising to between 6,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level in the past day or so. There was also a 3.9 magnitude earthquake at the summit yesterday at around 5 p.m., she said.
     USGS scientist Jim Kauahikaua told Hawai‘i News Now today that the S02 levels at the summit, with its multiple eruptions, has reached similar levels to those in Puna.
     State Senator and physician Josh Green, who represents west Kaʻū and Kona, told the Associated Press recently that ash particles are an immediate risk, particularly to anyone with asthma and other respiratory difficulties such as emphysema. They should limit exposure. “People need to stay inside until the winds shift and the ash has settled,” he told the AP reporter. “Extended exposure to sulfur dioxide can increase risk of bronchitis and upper respiratory infections in the long run, according to findings of a study Green worked on with other experts published in 2010 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health,” stated the AP story.

A telephoto lens zoomed in on this ash plume at 12:55 p.m. yesterday, May 23. USGS photo by D. Swanson

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AIR QUALITY INDEX from Air Now at 4 p.m. showed good for Pāhala at 24, and moderate for Ocean View at 77. Kona read as moderate with 52. Numbers were again unavailable when checked at 5 p.m.
       SO2 readings since midnight in Pāhala varied between good and unhealthy for sensitive groups, with the largest spike at 10:15 a.m. showing 0.36 parts per million. There were also several periods of no reporting. Ocean View was slightly better, but similar, with the largest spike at 11:30 a.m.  showing 0.33 ppm. Kona remains in the good range.
     Volcano S02 readings, which are upwind from the ash explosions were reported as good.

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ALL TESTIMONY OPPOSED A NĀʻĀLEHU WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT NEXT TO THE SCHOOL at Tuesday's Hawaiʻi County Council meeting.
     Robert Martin, chair of Nāʻālehu Elementary School Community Council, testified against the site, on behalf of the school council. “Surely there are other sites,” he said. Martin said he was also speaking for other community members who attended county public meetings on the issue in April: “We urge County Council and Department of Environmental Management to choose a better site for the Nāʻālehu Wastewater Treatment Plant, and also possibly better technology.” He said he and others oppose the county acquiring ranch land for the site which is owned by a local family. “I also want to say that I stand with the Souza family, and we really would not like to see the Souza family lose their land by eminent domain to construct a large wastewater treatment plant immediately upwind from our school.”

The Souza family owns land where the county could site the sewage treatment plant, but opposes the location next to the school and says they want to keep the land for their family ranch. Photo from the Souza family

     Darlene Javar, who identified herself as a “life resident of Kaʻū” and Principal of Nāʻālehu Elementary School, said she was there “to oppose the location of the wastewater treatment plant directly next to the school. Nāʻālehu Elementary School services approximately 400 students, we have approximately 75 employees. There are only two public schools in our district. Nāʻālehu Elementary is the primary feeder to Kaʻū High & Pāhala Elementary School.

     “Any adverse effect that could be related to this treatment plant right here could have long-term impact on our community… So, we’re not just looking at our Nāʻālehu school, but all of the children of Kaʻū. We service children and families from Ocean View to Nāʻālehu, and all of the different communities in between.

     “I understand the need for this facility. I am urging that budget be appropriate, to find a better location, for the best technology, etc. Please reconsider and carefully look at your planning so a more appropriate location is selected.”

     John Olson of Pāhoa, who is on the Environmental Management Commission Board, stated the discussion for the site has been on the agenda, and will be discussed again May 23 - see more in tomorrow's Kaʻū News Briefs. He stated he and a few others on the board had concerns about the placement of the treatment plant so close to the school. Olson said he had experienced similar positioning at Lanikai Elementary with the Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant – “which was directly upwind” - on Oʻahu: “I can quite easily see – visualize and smell – how this could go wrong.”

     Tina Tuttle stated she was testifying on behalf of her grandson Daniel McDowell, who goes to Nāʻālehu Elementary. She produced a picture of Daniel pointing to his classroom, on the other side of the school from where the treatment plant is proposed to be located. “I have real concerns about this,” said Tuttle. “I just hope they can find a better place to build the plant.”

Daniel McDowell points to the school at an April meeting on the Nāʻālehu Wastewater Treatment proposal. Both his great grandmother and grandmother testified yesterday against putting the facility next to Nāʻālehu Elementary School. Photo from McDowell family

     Sandra Demoruelle, great-grandmother to Daniel, spoke next, “on the budget that plans to spend $20 million dollars on the Nāʻālehu Wastewater system. She said, “It seems totally pointless to put in such a large facility for 80,000 gallons of wastewater a day.” She noted that the treatment plant would create “four lagoons right beside the Nāʻālehu School.”

     Demoruelle spoke of the lava “forcing property tax hikes,” and that budget concerns should be looking at “projects like this that are oversized and unneeded in the community. We only needed something like a sewage septic system conversion, which was exactly what happened at Pāhala at the senior citizen’s home: for $430,000, according to the budget, the county has converted one set of LCCs. What we do need in Kaʻū is public participation – I think that is the more basic issue here. We’ve been lacking any opportunity for our area to have meaningful input, as we should under the Hawaiʻi and Environmental Protection statutes.”

     Demoruelle said the input should also be ongoing and that “we should not have them come out just once and sell us a project where we have a picture such as this one,” referencing the picture of her grandson Daniel.

     John Masters, “born and raised right here in Nāʻālehu,” owner of Kaʻū Auto Repair and Towing, and “the proud father of six children who attend our schools here,” spoke next. “I feel that the location of the wastewater treatment plant is going to do a lot more effect on the community as a whole, rather than just the school. It’s directly upwind from our entire community here.” He said, “There’s a lot of land and a lot of other locations that would be optimal for the location of this plant. Right along the highway and kicking the Souza’s out ain’t the best deal for us as a community, for the Souza’s – for anyone.

     “It’s a beautiful area here, and to put that right along the highway – you think our tourist industry’s going to like it much? I don’t. You go past the treatment center to the most beautiful lookout in the world,” referring to Palina Pali overlook to Honuʻapo. Masters said he didn’t want to leave Nāʻālehu looking at a “crap plant, excuse my language,” and said there were “thousands of acres” of land to look at for the location of the facility that were not “upwind of our community.”

Community members met with county representatives at three public meetings last month to present the type of treatment system and proposed siting, and to take public input. Photo by Julia Neal

     Rick Porter, a Kaʻū resident whose wife teaches preschool at Nāʻālehu Elementary, stated he does not feel the location is appropriate: “It’s on the wrong side of prevailing winds. The school would be absolutely subjected to the smells from the plant.

     “The plant itself will probably be producing hydrogen sulfide from the sludge that is stored there. This is a very dangerous gas – it’s is the same gas they are worried about when a geothermal plant is shooting out in an uncontrolled situation. It’s a colorless gas that would not be appropriate for children to smell.

     “It also would encompass part of the Maka Hiki grounds, which are culturally sensitive grounds to the people of Kaʻū, which I believe are county-owned right now.”

     Porter also said “threatening” of the use of eminent domain to acquire the Souza property would be “the worse thing the county could do,” would hurt the county in future situations, and that eminent domain was typically “a last resort.” He said he agreed with Masters, that there were many other places that would be more appropriate locations for the facility.

     Charles Tuttle spoke as the last testifier. He said he had been a student of Nāʻālehu Elementary, with one grandchild presently attending the school, and another going to attend in future. Tuttle said he “strongly” opposes the plant, “as it will impact the kids, and it will impact the entire town of Nāʻālehuwith that location.” He also said there are “lots of other locations.”
     See more in tomorrow's Kaʻū News Briefs.