2018-09-26 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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Bay was conclusive that nitrogen, in addition to rising temperatures, synergizes to adversely affect coral. • Most of Kailua-Kona is not sewered. Though there is movement to increase sewer capacity, it takes a lot of money. • Huge volumes of nutrient-rich groundwater move unregulated into the ocean every day. The nitrogen is clearly human-sourced and has a human signature. It is conclusively shown on all the islands. • The state can do some things. The Land Use Commission and Planning Commissions need to consider the impacts of development, such as a request to convert conservation land to urban to develop a subdivision. This could significantly affect the ocean, and the developer would not be responsible for offsetting the adverse effects. If the water turns green and people don’t want to swim in it, it will be a huge cost to our tourist industry. Such a cost does not enter into the LUC’s or Planning Commissions’ decision-making. It is an avoided or deferred cost which gets foisted on us, the people. • Regarding the State Water Code, in Hawaiʻi County there is basically nothing done with water conservation. Every gallon that is conserved does not need to be disposed of. California is moving well ahead of Hawaiʻi in mandating water conservation. • Our county needs to be looked at holistically to see where in our management we can do a better job. It is difficult to manage water resources in highly compartmentalized departments that don’t have mandated responsibilities to each other. • There are park restroom facilities on the coastline that dispose of human waste in a septic system or leachfield, just feet from the ocean. It should be possible to retrofit some of them to disinfect the waste before it goes into recreational waters. • The Department of Water Supply does not currently have a conservation program, which is needed. The Uniform Plumbing Code of 2016 with the green supplements needs to be adopted. • The Department of Public Works could do a lot of things differently. All of the overly wide roads divert rainwater to drywells. A drywell diverts storm water runoff to a hole in the ground that ultimately goes to groundwater and then the sea. • The Planning Department can do a lot more. Urban design criteria to minimize storm water runoff could be adopted, as well as mandatory reclaimed water reuse zones, and statutory permits to use graywater in all zoning districts, and so on. • The Department of Environmental Management should have “no impact” wastewater disposal, outfalls, UIC, etc., so there is negligible nutrient release and all wastewater is disinfected to the R-1 virus standard. Commercial and residential reuse wastewater should be maximized, and localized wastewater treatment and reuse should be promoted. Reuse incentives should be created to compete with fresh water, and the R-1 water main should be extended to agricultural parks and elsewhere.