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<br />• With flushing toilets, the contents are largely out of sight and out of mind. <br /> <br />• An estimated 20% to 30% of the homes in Kona are in front of the sewer line <br />and may or may not be connected. <br /> <br />• In 1990 the EPA granted the county $23 million to build the Kealakehe WWTP, <br />with reclamation of wastewater as part of the contract. Users did not line up <br />to use it. In 2007 Mayor Kim instructed that the project move forward. In <br />2019, at last, the EIS was published and the project is moving forward. <br /> <br />• The Kealakehe WWTP sump deals with almost 2 million gallons per day. It is <br />economically attractive compared to a reclamation project, but the <br />microbiological quality of the water is largely unknown. The water goes into a <br />hole, which makes it behave like an injection well. <br /> <br />• The R-1 upgrade is a step toward resource recovery. It is a big issue around <br />the world, as fresh water is getting increasingly scarce. <br /> <br />• The upgrade proposes constructed wetlands, and the expectation is a 90% <br />reduction in nitrogen. He has questions about this. Disinfection will be by UV, <br />which is a major step forward. <br /> <br />• Reuse by irrigation is an objective. When the water is not reused, it is <br />proposed to be disposed of by the SAT ponds, and it is anticipated that 90% of <br />the phosphorus will be removed. The question is whether the 10% left will be <br />significant when where it is going is already over-nourished. <br /> <br />• Constructed wetlands are well studied and documented and should work <br />without much potential for error. But he questions how they will be <br />monitored and controlled. <br /> <br />• The SAT ponds appear to be special percolation ponds rather than SAT ponds. <br />There is a lot of iron in the blue rock sand which should chemically absorb <br />phosphates. The EIS author calls the area underneath the ponds “basal <br />groundwater lens.” However, there is no basal groundwater lens, as the whole <br />Kona Coast is laced with subterranean estuaries. The water is cool in these <br />estuaries, and the level rises and falls with the tides, which means they are <br />connected to the ocean. <br /> <br />• SAT ponds are used all over the world, but the operative is there has to be soil. <br />There is no soil here for the SAT ponds—there is fractured blue rock and lava <br />rock. <br /> <br />• The SAT ponds will be in the relatively near shore area, and the leachate from <br />them will move into brackish water and from the tide get discharged into the <br />2 <br /> <br />