2005-01-21 THOLMES0114 - Laserfiche WebLink

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your sewage is out of there, so we have no real problem. On, the other alternatives are if you have like a cesspool, obviously, whatever you got going down is going to work its way one way or the other to the ocean, so thats not good. In between the sewer system and the cesspool, Mr. Immings situation, which is a later item today where he has a 14- unit condo project, there you do an individual wastewater treatment system, which is certainly more costly than a septic system. When I talked to Department of Health people and I tried to get rough figures from them on what kind of clean-up you get from these different kinds of systems, basically from talking to Hilo personnel, rough rule of thumb like an individual treatment system with its dispersal field and all will give roughly a 90% cleanup of the nutrients and all. And that they tell me that a septic tank system gives roughly a 60 to 80% cleanup, and that varies on a number of things. One thing that they say is the key thing that varies on is the- sort of the leach field, whats the quality of leach field. If you have a really good deepdirtleachfieldyouregoingtogetthebestendofthatcleanup.Ifyoudonthavea good dirt leach field youre going to be more towards the lower end. And here, you know, as we heard from Ms. Kjos and all, where she talks about, you know, water coming down this rock so its just going to run along, I have to feel like its probably not a particularly good location for a leach field. I also asked about Puako, you know, what goes on in Puako since theyve built all these new houses. I know Puako used to have cesspools. And what I was told by Department of Health, and Mr. Mooers may well know Puako better than me, I was told that the newer houses down at Puako even though theyre single family residences are being required to put in individual wastewater treatment systems because of the sensitivity to the reef which is so close there. So to me, sort of summarizing, the fact that Mr. Mooers brought last time to the meeting when I wasnt here word from the Bishop Estate that it was not feasible to connect to the- to the sewer system, thats very understandable; and that alternative appears to be off the table in any reasonable way. But, again, Im looking to a precedent and what are we going to do in this stretch. Are we going to allow septic systems and allow expansion of use in this area where the Department of Health will approve a septic system that its okay with us, bearing in mind that Department of Healths primary responsibility is human health not nutrient flow to the ocean? So we dont find the Department of Health coming and testifying about what the quality of a near shore marine environment will be based on these systems. So, Im still stuck in a little quandary where Im reluctant to say a septic system is okay because I know theres going to be more leaching than a individual wastewater treatment system. And, Im sure that if the applicant was putting up a 14-unit condo where he could afford it, you know, he would probably go to an individual treatment system, and its probably very difficult for him to afford it in this particular situation. But there is some negative impacts towards the ocean from this and any other developments that may come along in this 3/4-mile stretch in the future, so thats what my concern is. And I just wanted to make that apparent to Mr. Mooers and also to the other Commissioners that its a precedent issue as well as the specifics of this issue being so close to Kahaluu. Thank you.