21-07-28 EMC minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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We the citizens are effectively their boss. There are questions about how they are managed by the Council or the Mayor both'. He appreciates the answer to the question but will continue to provide oversight. Commissioner Robinson asked whether DWS gave any reason why they were not interested. Vice Chair Gaffney recollected that "they just said no, we are not interested." This morning's newspaper had an article about DWS' continued problems managing their pumping and water distribution in West Hawai'i, so it may be based on they don't want any more work, but it's an ongoing question. At some point we might want to reach out to the Council and say, please consider having hearings on this subject so that the public can be informed on what DWS' reason is. They may have a very good reason. Our island is very different from O'ahu and Maui in terms of size and population density. They may be looking at that factor. From a citizen's point of view, it just seems to him to make sense that if someone is managing water to individual subdivisions and homeowners, it would make sense managing all forms of water to those individuals. Director Mansour said the sewer and environmental assessment fees still looming over his head could be a possibility because everybody that uses water ends up disposing of that water. What comes in through the faucet has got to go out somewhere, either through the cesspool, septic tank, or sewer system. The idea is to set up an environmental assessment for a sewer system that could allow us to provide better funding for protecting our shorelines and the groundwater. Then what we need to do is tap into the billing system, and that would be countywide. And we could charge the fees to be able to protect the same water they are using. c. Nd'dlehu/Pahala LCCs status of negotiations Director Mansour thanked Ms. Demoruelle and Mr. Warren for their testimonies. We found out from the geotechnical study in April that we have lava tubes and that potentially changed the situation. The liability of excavating it was risky and it could have potentially halted the whole project because of the potential of finding burial sites as we start excavating. So the excavation was not feasible. We have to re -coordinate and sit down with staff, and were able to look at the prelim engineering report that was done and the environmental assessment that was done. We have currently Wilson Okamoto, who is our EA consultant, trying to finalize letter to the EPA to address the concerns. We need to get the EPA on board with what we have submitted. If we are going to meet the AOC deadline, the only way is through the design -build based on performance -driven criteria. The AOC is only about secondary treatment, so we can achieve that, utilize it in different processes based on preliminary engineering report that was part of the environmental assessment that was submitted initially. So we are not going to exit out of what was discussed in the EA or the preliminary engineering report, but we are going to do it based on a design -build performance -driven criteria, that is going to be bid out and designed in 4 County Charter Section 8-5: "The department of water supply shall come under the general supervision and control of the mayor, through the managing director." The Council's role is limited to confirming the Mayor's nominees to the Water Board. The Water Board sets the rules, rates, and budget for DWS. 16