2019-07-24 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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the EMC to provide input to him as chair of the County Council’s Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management. Vice Chair Olson said he feels a starting point is to get people to pay for disposal of their waste of front, at the point of purchase. People are oblivious to what it costs to get rid of things. Chair Bennett asked him to jot down his ideas so they can forward them to Dr. Richards. Commissioner Gaffney said Dr. Richards also clearly leans toward having everyone pay for sewering rather than just the people who are connected to the sewer, and he may be planning legislation in that regard. Chair Bennett said Dr. Richards also offered to pass along the EMC’s environmental ideas to Bruce Anderson, current head of the Department of Health, with whom he is personally acquainted, and this is very encouraging. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Begin a discussion about how long-term sea level rise and its potential impact on the County of Hawaiʻi’s sewer infrastructure. This will include a request for infrastructure data for a continued discussion at the August meeting. Chair Bennett said he has been unable to find out who is involved, at the county level, with the sea level issue. He feels it is appropriate for the EMC to go on record to encourage the conversation about the fact that extreme tidal events are occurring, and these events are putting low lying areas of the county at risk. Another major concern is the investment of millions of dollars in sewer lines which may end up under water, at least periodically. He invited Vice Chair Olson to take the lead on this, and Vice Chair Olson accepted. Chair Bennett said it could be that it would be financially preferable to begin the process of managing a retreat from the coastline rather than to invest millions of dollars in a new sewer system. Vice Chair Olson said it is related to lava inundation zones in the sense of how the county allowed subdivisions to be built in high risk lava zones. Chair Bennett asked Director Kucharski to bring to the August meeting an inventory of the sewer infrastructure showing age and geography so they can have a better idea of how dated it is. Director Kucharski said he will need to see whether their GIS system has the data. If not, he will need more time to get this done. He will either bring the information or report on how long it will take to get it. Commissioner Burns said he has worked with the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Program, which has funded a substantial amount of research and provided presentations, and he may be able to get information from them. Further discussion was held on where data on sea level rise can be found. Chair Bennett said he would check with the climate adaptation office in Honolulu, and Director 3