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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Hawaii County have reached an agreement intended to correct an array of longstanding problems with aging, ill-maintained wastewater treatment plants on the Big Island.

The took effect on March 26 with the signature of Amy Miller-Bowen, EPA enforcement and compliance assurance division director for Region 9. The order sets strict timelines for the county to repair treatment plants in Hilo, Kulaimano, Papaikou and Kealakehe, take steps to eliminate large cesspools and expand county sewer service to homes that lack it.

In an interview on Friday, Miller-Bowen said inspections she and her team conducted turned up “acute problems” in the Hilo, Kulaimano and Papaikou plants. The 26-page consent order repeatedly uses terms like severely corroded, inoperable and out of service to describe the current state of the treatment plants.

Describing the Hilo facility, Miller-Bowen said, “it was probably the worst treatment plant I had ever seen.”  

Inspectors were concerned that a catastrophic failure of the plant was possible.

Ramzi Mansour, Hawaii County director of environmental management, said the problems predate the administration of Mayor Mitch Roth, which he joined in 2020 from the City and County of Honolulu, and stemmed from deferred maintenance, lack of properly trained personnel and other issues.

“These facilities have been ignored for years,” Mansour said.

In in January, Roth described the Hilo plant’s condition as “really terrible.”

Unless investments are made to fix the problems, the wastewater plant could turn into Hawaii’s “next Red Hill,” Roth said. He was referring to the Navy’s underground storage fuel facility on Oahu where fuel leaks contaminated Pearl Harbor’s drinking water and have sickened military families. 

Hawaii has been incurring fines from the EPA and state Department of Health since at least 2016 over the derelict state of plant equipment and illegal discharges into the ocean.

The consent order details a host of problems at the Hilo plant, including a grit screening tank being severely corroded and “out of service since at least 2016.”

A 2019 inspection found the rotating distributor arms of two biotowers significantly corroded with blocked outlets and leaks, a problem that wasn’t corrected for two years.

At the Kulaimano plant in Pepeekeo, the sludge dewatering centrifuge equipment has been “inoperable since at least 2016,” according to the order.

On the island’s Kona side, an EPA inspection turned up problems at the oceanfront Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is the subject of ongoing litigation between Earthjustice and the county over the plant’s lack of a federal pollution discharge permit.

Among its problems, EPA inspectors found that the Kealakehe plant failed to properly screen sewage and wastewater coming into the plant, and they discovered hypodermic needles floating in the primary sewage lagoon during one of their tours. As part of the consent order, the county must design a new pipeline that conveys wastewater under pressure at Kealakehe.

Beyond issues inside the plants, problems have cropped up at pump stations and in broken sewer lines that carry waste to treatment facilities. The consent order documents numerous instances where sewage flowed onto streets and gushed into waterways connecting to the ocean.

On July 10 and 11, 2020, for example, some 20,000 gallons of sewage spilled from a corroded line at Keopu pump station along Kailua-Kona’s Alii Drive in the heart of the tourist district. The sewage reached waters at the Kailua pier, a place where Ironman swimmers train and local residents swim and snorkel.

It’s not just the island’s wastewater plants that are troublesome. Hawaii island is home to some 48,000 cesspools, including some that serve entire neighborhoods, a relic from the plantation era. These “gang cesspools” are the subject of a separate administrative consent order designed to eventually eliminate them and move residents onto county sewer lines, Miller-Bowen said.

The latest consent order requires the county to develop by Dec. 31, 2026 a program to promote sewer service expansion, cesspool conversion, revenue generation and environmental compliance. The county must also create a cesspool conversion master plan that involves community outreach and development of a funding plan.

By June 30, 2028, the county must submit a financial plan outlining how it will generate sufficient revenues to cover wastewater programs, compliance, planning, design and construction for capital improvement projects over a five-, 10- and 20-year horizon.

Other significant deadlines include June 30, 2035 as the start date for operation of a new or upgraded Hilo plant. The Kulaimano and Papaikou plants must be overhauled, upgraded and ready to begin operations by June 30, 2030 and June 30, 2031 respectively.

If the county doesn’t meet the deadlines, it could be sued for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance told the Hawaii County Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee on Feb. 20.

“This is not a one-and-done kind of agreement. It’s going to involve a very concerted effort and commitment of resources of the county through 2035,” Strance said.

Mansour said the cost of the required repairs and complying with other aspects of the consent order is likely close to $700 million.

He expects the county will tap the state revolving loan program, apply for grants and float general obligation bonds to cover the costs.

Civil Beat’s coverage of environmental issues on Hawaii island is supported in part by a grant from the Dorrance Family Foundation.