2020-06-24 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Director Kucharski said he read the minutes of the last meeting, and it is his opinion some of the commissioners’ comments do not accurately reflect the Supreme Court’s decision. He gave a slide presentation about the lawsuit and the stages it has gone through, from the U.S. District Court of Hawaiʻi to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, and back to the Ninth Circuit Court. The basic issue is whether Maui, which pumps its R-1 water into ground water through four injection wells, is discharging a pollutant to navigable waters, which would require an NPDES permit. The Supreme Court did not make a firm yes or no decision. It vacated the Ninth Circuit Court decision and remanded the case for further proceedings. The current situation is that Maui County is back in discussions with the State Department of Health and U.S. EPA on how to determine whether an NPDES permit is required. Commissioners made statements that discharges from the Kealakehe sump go directly to the harbor, but there is no actual proof of that in his opinion. It could be at the harbor, or it could be a mile off-shore. There is no way of knowing for sure, at least with the current data. It is also unknown when NPDES permits are required. For the county and major operators, it is just an issue of treatment and discharge. It is not something that is going to make or break the county or any of the private operators. The Wastewater Division is checking on having a tracer study done to determine where the discharge is and the concentration. They are also looking at other private entities to attempt to do tracer studies, first in Kealakehe and then at the two injection wells. On the status of the R-1 project in Kealakehe, the design has been put on hold primarily because the discharge standards that must be met are unknown at this time. It is not known whether the standards will have to be modified from what they are currently to meet the requirements of an NPDES permit should one be required. The rules for R-1 water require a 100% capacity to discharge the full amount of the R-1 produced, and whether an NPDES permit will be required or a permit by rule is not yet known. However, work is continuing on designing and permitting the distribution lines. They are being held up on the cultural review due to SHPD understaffing. Commissioner Fulton invited Steve Holmes to comment. Steve Holmes: Regarding the lawsuit, the remand from the Ninth Circuit actually went to Judge Mollway at the District Court. For water recycling, an NPDES permit will only be needed if the water is discharged into recreational waters. The receiving waters belong to the National Park Service. A U.S. Geological Survey study showed the flows from the sump were coming into the back of the marina at Honokōhau Harbor and then flowing from there out into the ocean. There will be problems in getting an NPDES permit because the receiving waters have endangered species that are federally listed. There is also a fish recovery area. There will be unique designations to deal with, unlike the Hilo WWTP and its outfall pipe. Another issue is that there is too much salt water infiltration into the collection system. This has been known for years but is still not under control. If recycled water is to be sold, a plan is needed today that addresses the infiltration. If millions of dollars are being spent to upgrade to R-1, it seems reasonable to get cost recovery through recycling, which is part of the whole concept of 5