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<br />stated that we should be careful because, in their opinion, the EPA, during the grant
<br />times, when they're funding facilities through grant monies, one of their goals was to
<br />avoid water and wastewater combining, and they would write these conditions in, or
<br />somehow they're included in the conditions. I wasn't able to find those conditions, and
<br />I spoke to DOH, and they were not familiar with that, but it's really kind of hard to track
<br />those conditions down because they often reference various Federal regulations, which
<br />then refer to other Federal regulations, so there may be some catch there, but that's a
<br />possibility that may be a problem. But yes, most people seemed to think it was a good
<br />match, for whatever it's worth.
<br />RAY: Was there any input in regard to a Department of Environment,
<br />the model of wastewater and solid waste, that seems to be popular to some degree?
<br />BOUCHER: I didn't really, specifically ask that question. One of the agencies
<br />did have all their utilities combined, including the electric and all. They thought it was
<br />very efficient but, no, I didn't ask, at least on the internet, that. Although with this paper
<br />I wrote, I did try to quickly come up with a few advantages and disadvantages to that
<br />option because that question does continue to pop up. Milton presents it. I've thought
<br />of it, also. As far as advantages of joining wastewater and solid waste, there can be
<br />limited advantages, in as far as handling waste products such as the sludge, if we ever
<br />did get to some sort of a large scale composting operation to divert serious portions of
<br />our solid waste stream. Having our sludge be part of that process would certainly be
<br />helpful, so there's something to be said about thinking of them in the same light. Also,
<br />with the FOG, Fats, Oils and Grease, Maui County has a mechanism. Part of it is
<br />turned into diesel fuel, and part of it is processed, then helped to use to heat, and it's
<br />used in the composting process also.
<br />RAY: Do you know, their departments aren't combined, are they?
<br />BOUCHER: No, they are not. And, I guess, the idea's is, if we're talking about
<br />the paradigm of the water cycle being the overall view, looking at it, maybe the view
<br />from this one is looking at it as this is environmental management, whatever
<br />advantages there are to that. There's something to be said for trying to have a society
<br />conceptualize in it's mind what we're trying to do with this. It's not a sewer system
<br />where we're just trying to get rid of stuff and hide it somehow, or bury the waste in a
<br />landfill and get rid of it, moving more to treating it as resources and trying to re -use as
<br />much as possible, and I guess, it's more a psychological benefit than anything. And a
<br />disadvantage to that, and I think the major one, would be probably a de facto tax
<br />increase because unlike the Wastewater Division, Solid Waste is heavily subsidized
<br />by the General Fund, so if they were to stand alone, the tipping fees would have to be
<br />raised very substantially. The whole system would have to be changed. Likewise,
<br />anytime you're forming a new department, I think, administration costs would be
<br />increased also. If it was joined with Water Supply, perhaps the administration costs
<br />15
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