2019-06-26 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

Home

• The county also received a $750,000 grant to help in the R-1 piping system design for the regional park. It will be the first dual pipe system in the state. The grant is also for a feasibility study for the ag park, which hopes to use the R-1 water. The department will be looking into what can to done, other than fixing the I&I, to reduce the salinity of the R-1 water. • Regarding the Pāhala and Nāālehu WWTPs, there have been some ʻ changes in federal procedures. One change is that no intrusive work can be done on a property subject to an EA until the archeological inventory survey has been submitted and a determination made that it is okay to proceed. For Pāhala, it is necessary to drill along the design route for the collection system, which is not directly associated with where the plant is going to be. The drilling is to look for lava tubes. The county is now a year behind in the design, because drilling and testing cannot be started until the State Historic Preservation Division gives their approval. • The delay for historical review will also affect the R-1 system and the Lanihau force main replacement. He does not see a way for the R-1 system to be designed and to have construction started by the end of 2020. It is being held up solely by the EIS and historical review process. • On the Lono Kona project, the contractor has broken into at least three lava tubes, and one of them held human remains and sewage. The Burial Council was contacted and has removed and interred the remains. The commissioners and director discussed how it is commonly known that lava tubes were used to dispose of waste, and whether there is a non-intrusive way to determine if there is a lava tube. • The polystyrene bill went through its first and second reading, and he expects it to pass with no issue. The ban, while limited to food service entities, is a first step. They are also looking at what can be done with plastics, and Research and Development is looking at using hydrogen buses which could be fueled by collecting the methane at the Puʻuanahulu landfill. • The status of the R-1 system was already reported on. Unless the State Historic Preservation Division comes through quickly, there will be a delay. A full cultural survey will also have to be done on the portion of land adjacent to Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway. Commissioner Gaffney asked if the county would be using the same right-of-way the federal government used to move sewage from the national park, which has a sewer line that runs across Kealakehe Parkway to the WWTP. If there is a right-of-way already designated, it might be used to finish the connection. Director Kucharski said he would check on it.