2020-06-24 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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recycling. Regarding the dye study, it would only be done if an NPDES permit is to be pursued. There is potential for onsite and offsite storage, and doing so would prevent the need to discharge into the old sump. DEM will be facing significant issues if it goes the NPDES permit route, and in the meantime is facing legal exposure. Commissioner Fulton said the county every day is potentially subject to a $55,000 per day fine because it is in violation of the Clean Water Act, and the Supreme Court decision supported that. There is a tremendous amount of scientific data that shows the harbor is receiving enormous amounts of county pollution. She invited Dr. Rick Bennett to comment. Dr. Rick Bennett: He has reviewed about 13 distinct peer reviewed scientific publications that provide a preponderance of evidence to show the nature of the groundwater and how it accumulates things that are put on the surface and discharged. The county also has about 1,300 dry wells that exist to drain storm water off the streets and direct it to groundwater. Markers have appeared, and one of them is a rare earth element called gadolinium, which is used to reveal tissues in MRIs. It is excreted quickly in the urine and cannot break down. It has been identified in our ocean. It has been shown unequivocally to exist in wastewater, groundwater, in the harbor and the open ocean. It has been established that the ocean is the ultimate recipient of all wastewater. What bothers him most is that in 2007, on behalf of Surfrider Foundation, they wrote the mayor and provided the evidence that suggested that the Kealakehe wastewater discharge was the single largest source of nutrients that flow into the ocean. There are other sources, but they are substantially smaller. The mayor responded that it would be inappropriate to wait for proof, but to be precautionary, acknowledge the public trust, and do the right thing; and he indicated it was his intent to do so. He did not get reelected, and Mayor Kenoi, through his DEM director, told them in no uncertain terms it was a non-issue. Now it is 2020 with fundamentally the same issue. If the county is going to spend millions of dollars to create R-1 water, it needs to invest in making the water reusable by getting the salt out. R-1 water offers the only opportunity to not discharge and to reclaim the source and perhaps even generate an economy. He suggests the county do the right thing and avoid a lot of public cost and the necessity of a discharge permit, because to meet discharge requirements will be very challenging. The waters immediately offshore of Honokōhau or Kailua Bay are federally impaired, and the law requires that any discharge constitute no further impairment. He agrees with what the mayor said in 2007, which is to do the right thing and not wait for scientific proof. Commissioner Fulton said the important points to recap are that the coastal waters in West Hawaiʻi are already listed as impaired. It is known that the sump, into which the wastewater treatment plant feeds, is supplying nutrients and pollution to the harbor. This is known, and it is distressing to her that DEM’s course appears to be to seek a permit to continue to pollute. It is confounding to her, as there is an alternate path that makes so much more sense, would be so much more beneficial to the environment, and may be beneficial to the economy as well. Resilient responses are needed to the challenges being faced. DEM’s response of trying to go down the permit path and continue to pollute is unacceptable to her personally. 6