Kaʻū News Briefs, Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The endemic Hawaiian Hoary Bat depends on dryland forests for survival. Read about the upcoming  Nahelehele Dryland Forest Symposium, below. Photo from drylandforest.org

THE PROPOSED NĀʻĀLEHU WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT drew a wide range of opinions this week when the engineer and community outreach person met with residents and held a public meeting. They explained that the proposed site has moved a third time, from the Makahiki Grounds where archaeological remains were discovered, and from land near the Nāʻālehu School, where teachers and surrounding residents objected to the location.
     The new site is in the mauka end of  Kahlilipalinui ahupuaʻa, 2.5 miles from the shoreline. It would be located within more than 2,000 acres in Kahilipalinui and Kahilipaliʻikii being purchased for conservation through the county Two Per Cent Land Fund and state Legacy Land Fund. Both county and state recently gave permission to remove the 30 acres from the conservation zone, in order to use it for the treatment facility, which would protect the Waikapuna shoreline from untreated sewage coming from the town. It would become the property of the county. The rest of the land would be owned and stewarded  by the Ala Kahakai Trail Association.

Wastewater treatment engineer Michelle Sorensen goes over the plan  with a Nāʻālehu property owner. Photo by Julia Neal

     In terms of economic development, a new sewer line running along Hwy 11 would allow businesses like Punaluʻu Bake Shop, Hana Hou Restaurant, Nāʻālehu Shopping Center, and Shaka's Restaurant, along with Nāʻālehu School and Bay Clinic, to grow without digging up gardens and parking areas for additional septic system capacity.
     During Tuesday night's meeting, some people said they worried that the cost of the treatment plant, estimated at some $40 million, could be too much of a financial burden on residents of the town and give developers the opportunity to bring in too much growth at the expense of local people. Representatives of the county explained that the cost of the new sewer system is borne by the entire county, not the Nāʻālehu community alone. Loans pay for it and the county pays off the loans over time, keeping the sewage fees the same islandwide.
     While the sewage treatment plant would have the capacity to grow, growth of the town would be determined in the future with input from the townspeople, said county representatives. The obligation of the county is to retire  the town's large capacity gang cesspools which are illegal under federal law but serve 163 houses in the old sugar camp in Nāʻālehu. The EPA has promised fines of more than $30,000 per day per large capacity cesspool, should the county be unable to shut them down and provide a legal alternative in the near future.

Some 90 people attended last night's meeting on the proposed Nāʻālehu wastewater system. Photo by Julia Neal

     Several residents said they worried that the plan calls for a sewage outfall into the ocean. Would Waikapuna be affected? Engineer Michelle Sorensen explained that the 30-acre facility would be far from the ocean. Effluent treated without chemicals by oxygen and microbes would be absorbed by the soil in groves of trees.
     The treatment facility would help protect the ocean, groundwater and health from sewage that is now going into the ground untreated, noted the engineer. She showed on maps that the treatment plant would be miles from the coast and that no ocean outfall is in the planning.
     See more in tomorrow's Kaʻū News Briefs.