2019-02-27 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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Beck, the Wastewater Deputy Chief, was there but did not answer any of the questions, which left Director Kucharski to fill in on what happened in the past. Everyone in the community had an opportunity to reconnect on this issue, and different groups of people who do not associate with each other were uniformly skeptical of the project. Some who did not come to earlier meetings had new grievances that were previously not considered. Mr. Kucharski continues to tell homeowners they must close their cesspools by 2050 and that a sewer line will run down the street for them to connect. This has people upset. There are life-long residents who resist this plan. Regarding abandoned vehicles, in Nāālehu a police officer will not initiate an ʻ abandoned vehicle removal procedure, and neither will the county roads people. These departments turn a blind eye on the most obvious vehicles, even those that have become storage units and sleeping quarters for homeless people. Citizens must suffer in silence or risk retaliation from squatters. Sandra Demoruelle: The Nāālehu Wastewater Treatment Plant is not necessary. ʻ The county came down and once again told the community that their well is failing and the LCC could not be used as septic system. There is no overflow, and there is nothing wrong with the well. The county was originally going to put septic tanks in the area, and they would run to the current well. However, Director Kucharski keeps maintaining that the well is failing, cannot be reused, and a $40 million system needs to be built. It was nothing but a political ploy to begin with, and it is based on lies. Her group will be talking to a lawyer, because the county refuses to do an EIS. There is no need for the wastewater treatment plant. Everyone would be happy with the septic system they were promised and given an FEA on. It could be done tomorrow. There is no need to do an EIS and there is no need to do anything. Steve Holmes: He was a member of the Honolulu City Council, though he is originally from the Big Island. He has been a park ranger and geologist for Hawaiʻi Volcanoes. For most of his years on the Council, he was chair of the Public Works Committee and looked at a lot of wastewater, water, and solid waste issues. He has sympathy for Hawaiʻi County’s challenges. His background was in energy. He worked for the U.S. Department of Energy and was the Energy and Sustainability Coordinator for Honolulu. He also worked for the Harris administration as an executive administrative official, where he also dealt with wastewater issues. He read the draft EIS for the Kealakehe upgrade and finds himself in an awkward position. For years he has been an advocate for a higher level treatment of wastewater. However, he is concerned that the plan is fatally flawed because of segmentation of a portion of the recycling. Some elements are included in the plan, and some are not. Another fatal flaw is that right now the effluent is very salty, and Kona’s drinking water is also very salty. It exceeds the EPA secondary treatment standards by several times, which is very frustrating for him as an environmentalist. He pays water bills and expects to have drinking water supplied to him, but he ends up instead buying bottled water from Costco.