2021-05-26 EMC Minutes draft - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

meeting to look at creative options for our falling-to-pieces wastewater treatment plant, and this containerized membrane bioreactor concept was described by Dr. Bennett. At another meeting she heard about another company, Cambrian, where instead of paying them to run a wastewater treatment plant, we buy clean water from them and they pay for the modulesand operations, and they give you the water for a fee. But she brought up the topic to ask the question of, is that one of the set of options for the Hilo wastewater treatment plant, if only on a temporary basis, so nobody gets killed at the plant or we do not wipe out the bay. How are you looking at options and how broad might they be? Director Mansour appreciated getting input from Dr. Bennett. Every time we look at a plant on the island, usually we analyze it from an engineering point of view. First, how are we going to make it meet the regulatory requirement from the permitting aspect? We look at the latest technology to process the water. We also look at the geographic location – the east side is not like the west side because we get a lot of rain. If we upgrade to produce R-1 water, is it going to be used? All these questions come into play as we analyze any treatment plant during the design process. Our first action is to identify the items in the parts and in the components that are failing. We have a consultant onboard that staff secured about a year ago, and are in the process of finalizing that assessment. Once we finalize that, we have to sit down and tackle the process of how we are going to modify it. Is it better to restart again because we don’t have a redundant system, and we cannot take anything out of service? We would have to have a facility built nearby and do the transition at the end. The Cambrian products and others are good for a small amount of flow, but Hilo is 2.8 million gallons per day. So that’s a high flow and the plant is designed for 5 mgd. And as we implement the new design or the replacement of components, we also need to address the cesspools and the future connections. Because we cannot just ignore that. Eventually the tributary area within the Hilo facility treatment plant does have a majority of the homes on cesspools. So as we look at the replacement, we also need to look at the transition from cesspools to actual connections. All that is being looked at. These are complex processes, and we do entertain other technology out there. But we are going to challenge that technology, and see what they are able to provide and not able to provide. He has already had many conversations with Cambrian. We asked some questions, we are supposed to get some answers, and the process continues. Commissioner McIntosh asked if the plants can be repaired or if they need to be replaced. Director Mansour said some components need to be replaced because they are beyond repair; some other components are able to be repaired. We are getting to the point where as you do the repair, you cannot take it out of service because the system is not redundant. We will keep you posted, he said. That’s what is being identified. If we end up replacing in kind, it has to be built next to the old one because we cannot take the existing one out of service. It has to be newly constructed. Commissioner Olson asked about the practicality of rebuilding the plant given the tsunami zone implications, and whether it should be built on higher ground. Director Mansour replied that would be unfeasible (the Hilo plant is outside of the evacuation zone, but much of the collection system is within it), and it would be difficult to locate the plant elsewhere. 22