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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN RAWEEMC 2022/10/04 2020-2022 Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy, And Environmental Management 23`'d Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai i October 4, 2022 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, ORDER: Energy and Environmental Management was called to order at 3:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member (came in later) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Absent& Excused: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 1008: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY PROJECT GENKI HOU COORDINATION TEAM MEMBERS REGARDING THE USE OF "GENKI BALLS" TO ADDRESS ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION AND FLOOD MITIGATION IN WATERSHEDAREAS From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated September 16, 2022. Motion to Close File: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Comm. 1008. Seconded by Mr. Inaba. CHR. RICHARDS: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. You know,putting this presentation together and I'd actually like to take the time to call Susie Osborne and her team together RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 here to our testifier stand. But as she gets set,just prior to this meeting we heard a lot of curiosity around, "What does genki mean?" "What does genki hou mean?" And just earlier today a lot about innovation and just being forward thinking. And so it really is an honor and a privilege to have Susie here today to talk about a project that I think incorporates so many of those ideas. Innovation, science, families, friends, and if I could, Chair,just turn it over to Ms. Susie Osborne to introduce this project and her team. (Note: At this time, Genki Hou Project Team Member Susan Osborne came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. OSBORNE: Mahalo. Hana hou. Seems like I saw all of you just this morning. I just want to acknowledge what a long day you've had. Thank you for taking your time and for your service and dedication to our community. So really appreciate it. And hopefully this is just an uplifting moment to end your day. Really excited that we have Hiro Nago that is going to present first with us coming in from Honolulu. And he is the master that has brought for yourI'm sure you've all heard of the Ala Wai clean-up project with the Genki Bokashi Balls. And so he's going to give us some technical presentation on that work and then I'll follow up with the Genki Hou that we're bringing here to Hilo. With me today we have some of our collaborators,the Queen Lili`uokalani Park board members KT and Aaron, and Tim Lloyd. He's an effective microorganism distributor on our island. And Cat Rehberg, President of South Hilo Rotary. Connie was supposed to join us, President of Hilo Rotary, but she got some tummy troubles. So they'll be available for any sort of questions at the end of our presentation. But at this time I'd like to turn it over to Hiro. Mahalo. MR. NAGO: Aloha, everyone. Such a pleasure. I want to thank Jessica(Valdez) and Council Member Sue Lee Loy to help get this on the agenda. And since it's been a long day I'll just go ahead and share screen, the presentation I gave an update to our Mayor Blangiardi. And I'm going to share that with you guys today. (Note: At this time, Technical Advisor Hiromichi Nago and Susan Osborne came forward and provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the subject presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office or navigate to the Council's video archives from the County's homepage at www.hawaiicounty.gov. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 1008.) MS. OSBORNE: So we're going to do a strategic plan as part of this. We'll have a short and long term strategic plan. And so I think this is just a start and we're just really happy to share this with you and hopefully garner some support from Page 2 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 you to make this happen. So hopefully if you have any questions the others will be able to answer if I can't. Mahalo. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Susie, for your presentation. You know, I asked Susie to put this together just because, as she mentioned, this was kind of that first step and could become a potential model for so many other things that we want to do as it relates to clean water, our fish ponds, and our shorelines. And, you know, as I learned about this project and seeing it being done for Lili`uokalani Park, you know, I really began to really embrace the idea of this is our native and cultural intelligence provides solutions which we have not been able to have for—you know, 1964, and here it is 2022. And, you know, as we move through the idea of cost, right, the mechanical cost of dredging the pond, this is a tiny little fraction of what it would cost to do the exact same thing. But the science, the education, the community building that we get out of this is a win-win, win, win, win, win. I'm going to be challenging my other colleagues as I introduce my contingency money to either match or at least provide a small portion, not only for this project, but other projects and engage Susie and this team and our Rotary Clubs. Because it is a big dream, I think, of us for doing this on a small scale, but tackling Hilo Bay and all of our shorelines that are struggling with a lot of wastewater issues. So, Chair, with that I yield. But please engage this team. They are super, super smart. MS. OSBORNE: I just wanted to add one thing to that, because this is the start. But many other organizations would like to be involved and other schools. And that certainly is a vision. And when I was speaking to Sue and thinking sort of longer term about this, I'm like, you know what, Mo already committed that he can get us a warehouse. We're going to do this at my school greenhouse, you know, first time around. But, you know, for a few thousand balls that's okay. But if we can really make this thing happen and save millions of dollars—and that was one of the questions for Hiro to share about the cost savings. But I love Sue's idea to get the ARC of Hilo involved and see if we can house this somewhere and create employment and expand the educational opportunities. So that was a question. Because I remember reading, Hiro, somewhere about billions of dollars and 15 years that it was going to cost to clean the Ala Wai and can you just briefly touch upon that,the cost savings? MR. NAGO: You know, they always had to dredge the canal, right. So I think the last one was like $14 million. And, you know, you're going to have the run-offs, but, you know, it took over a year. And, you know, you're going to still have to do it. But by introducing the genki balls, you know, they can help take care of the sludge to a point where it can get rid of some of the inorganic material, because, you know, we have branches, you have people throwing shopping carts and tons of golf balls and other things that they are sucking out of the sludge. Page 3 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 But, you know, ultimately once we do get funded we want to go up mauka so we toss it up in the mountain area. So as it goes down the rivers, you know, we already know it cleans further downstream. So once we can get more funding we want to address from the top of the watershed all the way down. So right now we're just addressing the Ala Wai Canal. It's most visible. And thanks to the Malama Hawaii Program we do have like, the Ritz Carlton came on board and picked that up as a Malama Hawaii Program. And they have their guest donate, you know, I think it was ten dollars and the hotel would match another ten dollars and it'd be a $20 credit to use on the hotel grounds. And then they donated some of that money to support our project, besides making and tossing into the Ala Wai Canal as well, too. We have Hawaii HIS coming on board now with some of the Japanese tourist coming in. They're working with students actually that can make a meaningful visit by helping the Ala Wai Canal with the genki balls as well. So it is expanding. You know, we've had First Hawaiian Bank join us as part of their first in-person community care event. So we had about 130 people on board. And the foundation also gave us some money as well, too. So there are some sources that we can also tap in. But, you know, on a larger scale Dr. Ken is trying to get those federal funding, which he has been working on for 12 years. But yeah, definitely cost savings compared to regular chemical methods of removing, and you're still not addressing the ecosystem restoration portion. So I was very surprised to hear that, you know, that Wai Honua had a lot of turtles in there as well, too. So I think that would be exciting to see turtles come back along with mullets once we get rid of the sludge like we're seeing in the Ala Wai Canal. MS. LEE LOY: Well thank you so much. I think this really does talk about regenerative tourism and just how we can actually reset so many of our thought processes in a very cultural and native space. Thank you, Susie. I am going to yield now and allow my colleagues to ask any questions they may have. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. So open up to the Council, and I see Ms. David. Go ahead, Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair Richards. Ms. Osborne, thank you so much for bringing this information to us. I will definitely take Ms. Lee Loy up on her challenge. Contact my office, I'll be so happy to contribute some of my contingency for this effort. On the west side we have many ponds. In Ka`u, beautiful pond system. And I see this as such a natural and good way of dealing with our environment and bringing back a lot of our pond systems that have been neglected. And I have a question. Would this work if you would throw some of these balls in our sewage treatment plants? Page 4 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 MS. OSBORNE: Yes. The captain can answer that. MS. DAVID: I'm just thinking—come, come. CHR. RICHARDS: Come up to the table please. Sit down at the table and identify yourself, because we've got to write a transcript of this. MR. LLOYD: Timothy Lloyd, and I have the business called EM Awareness. I've been exposed and working with EM (Effective Microorganisms) since 1997, which was 24 (inaudible), Okinawa in 2003, with Kari and Hiro, and there was some of us from Hawaii representing Hawaii. As far as cleaning up in your sewer systems, EM works anaerobically and breaks down all the organic matter reducing E. coli by removing the food sources for them. It also reduces the malodors that are present. In Japan they have a library that they have the raw sewage, they treat it, and it becomes cleaner than the international drinking salvage and they can use it for drinking water. That's how clean it goes after just filtering, after they treat with EM. I've been wanting to get Hilo Bay taken care of since 1998. And finally this is the third time presenting to you guys over the few years. I'm really excited about this process. Anytime that we have the runoffs I always hear that sewage is going into the bay and down in the Keaukaha area. If there just treating this as it's running out into the ocean that would neutralize all our problems. So it would be safe to fish and everything like that. But definitely you can use this stuff in your sewer systems. And I also looked down in lower Puna, there's a lot of septic systems and a lot of people use that for the composting toilets. There's no smell, takes care of the flies, and by remediation breaks down in no time. MS. DAVID: That is outstanding. MR. LLOYD: It has so many uses. And also this is some information if you want of how they had a 10-year history over in Japan for places they've used for a very, very long time. So I'm happy that we've finally addressing this so we can address our local community here in the island. MS. DAVID: Such a great presentation. And I'm looking forward to having something like this incorporated in some of the things that the county has to deal with. So thank you so much for all your work. And Susie, don't forget to see me after. I yield. Thank you, Chair. CHR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Chair David. Other Council Members. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Yeah, I'm happy to jump in on this challenge. I'm sure you kind of knew that already. And I would love to get some of the schools in the Page 5 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 Hamakua District involved certainly. I think, you know, our Charter Schools, Laupahoehoe would be a fantastic partner. And I just wanted toI suspect that this would also, you know, not just the environmental health benefits, but climate change related benefits in terms of improving oxygen levels in the ocean and improving plant life. You know, most of the carbon sequestering is actually from the aquatic system and if you have a healthy aquatic system you're making sure that carbon is being pulled out of the atmosphere. So I'm suspecting that's true. You can just confirm or deny. MR. LLOYD: Absolutely. MS. KIMBALL: But I think this is a multiple win, win, win kind of bottom-line situation. Thanks. I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Thanks, Ms. Kimball. Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Thank you, Mr. Richards. I'm a little bit obsessed when it comes to the streams and rivers when they're in Kona, because they don't always flow, yeah. And especially in North Kona, we don't have on-land streams. But when you get to central, especially in H61ualoa, Wai`aha area, every year when it's rainy season I'll take drives and I think this is such a cool, cool project that hopefully, especially that mauka-makai component, because all of that flood water in Kona ends up in Kailua Bay. And we see that every year when it's just totally brown. And that's not what we know Kailua to be normally. When we know the water is going to get there anyway, but when we can provide, you know, the mechanism to clean this water, I just think this is such a cool project. So thank you for coming to present. And I was only four years old in 1998, so I'm glad that you came back to see us. Thank you. MR. LLOYD: Persistence. CHR. RICHARDS: Alrighty then, Mr. Inaba. Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I was 12 in 1998, Holeka. Lili`uokalani Park is real special to me. My uncle owned the ice house that was in the park vicinity. So I spent a lot of time there growing up. And having graduated from St. Joseph School, one of the projects our school adopted when I was in elementary, high school, cleaning up Lili`uokalani Park. And I could not wait for year that I was in high school and we got to clean the sludge out of the pond. It just seemed so cool. But it was really, really nasty to do that. So I'm happy to meet the challenge of my colleague, Council Member Lee Loy. We are new Rotarians. So really happy that we're able to join you in this space and serve community in this way. And I've just got to give you a lot of kudos and credit, Susie. I think when we talked about this in the Paint Pahoa Town Project in the beginning of August, not even a month has gone by and look at all the Page 6 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 project collaborators and folks you were able to bring together to make this happen. Thank you for your boundless energy and leadership and vision in making this happen. I love the educational component, the economic piece, but also,just the remediation, restoration, regeneration, of`aina. So happy to support it in all capacities. Love the concept of doing a pilot project, learning from there and figuring out how we can duplicate in all the different communities around the island. Just love it 100 percent. MS. OSBORNE: You got it. Hundred percent. Mahalo. That's the vision. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. Thanks, Ms. Kierkiewicz. So if we're doing this age thing, 1997, I was 20 years out of high school. It wasn't Waiakea. All kidding aside though, I think that has touched on everybody. So couple things, and Council Woman Lee Loy is going to get mad at me for geeking out a little bit. But first of all, what bacteria? What is in the genki ball? It's probably a plethora of them. MS. OSBORNE: Hiro? MR. NAGO: Okay. Basically you've got lactic acid bacteria, you make yogurt, cheese. The other component is yeast. It's a good yeast to make beer, wine. And the other special bacteria is called a phototrophic bacteria. So that's the actual microbes that actually digest hydrogen sulfide ammonia. All that stinky stuff is their food. So you can imagine when earth was a fireball these guys came from outer space. They started consuming all that hydrogen sulfide, all that poison gas. They can survive UV radiation and they're producing oxygen. So they actually poison themselves. So now you find them in ponds, lakes, volcanic vents. And people are studying this bacteria for bioremediation. The professor, he was the developer of the technology. Well I was already studying over 40 years before that in the early 60's. So it's through his due diligence of trial and error and fine tuning it to the basic three bacteria that we use today. It's called EM-1. And we're in over 100 countries around the world. Yeah, it's very simple. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. MR. NAGO: And it's also used for regenerative agriculture. So it's kind of interesting that we're giving this presentation to this committee today. Thank you. CHR. RICHARDS: And so that makes sense. That's where you get your anaerobic digestion that transfers over, becomes aerobic, then wipes out your bacteria. Page 7 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 MR. NAGO: Yes. So they're called facultative. They can work both in aerobic and anaerobic. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. MR. NAGO: Yes. CHR. RICHARDS: Alright. And then following up on that. How do you get a saturation level of 145 percent oxygen? MR. NAGO: Isn't it amazing? That's amazing, yeah. CHR. RICHARDS: Because 100 percent is full. So how do you go beyond full? MR. NAGO: That's something I gotta ask the City, the laboratory people. They did these numbers for us. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. Because that one puzzled me. Maybe it's 145 percent of normal or something. But okay. Yeah, I'd like to get an answer to that because that one puzzled me a little bit. MR. NAGO: Sure. CHR. RICHARDS: So with that, are there any other questions? I'm seeing none. Okay so now I'm put in a very interesting quandary here. I'm asked to meet the challenge. But my contingency funds are zero at this point. You should've had this two weeks earlier. So I cannot. But come talk to me because I have an idea. So seeing no further comments or questions, we have a communication on the table. All signify to close communication by saying "aye." Vote on Comm. 1008: The motion to file Comm. 1008 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Richards —6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas —3. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARDS: And we're at the end of our agenda. Page 8 RAWEEMC-23 October 4,2022 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:24 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Inaba and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, and Chair Richards—6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Chung, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder and Villegas—3. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARDS: We stand adjourned. Approved: x4 . r i ar sr ter, r OCT9 2022 Wlflerbert M. "Tim"Richards, III, Chair (Date) Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environmental Management Committee HRftk Page 9