HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0620.035 2022-2024 P/Counci l
Res..'112-23
Coma 624
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2023 12:39 PM
To: Megan Lamson
Cc: Hannah Bernard; Council Testimony
Subject: RE:VERY OPPOSED to Resolution 372-23
Attachments: letter from the science comm_KealakeheWWTP.pdf
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From: Megan Lamson
Sent:Tuesday, December 5, 2023 11:59 AM
Cc: Hannah Bernard<hannah@wildhawaii.org>
Subject:VERY OPPOSED to Resolution 372-23
Aloha Chair Kimball and members of the Hawaii County Council,
My name is Megan Lamson and I am a marine biologist living in Honalo, Hawaii. I am writing this email on
behalf of my`Ohana and as the president of Hawaii Wildlife Fund.We urge you to reject the funds
requested by the mayor to hire outside counsel to fight Hui Mdlama Honokohau v. County of
Hawai`i (Resolution 372-23).
For decades,the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant has released millions of gallons of treated sewage into
groundwater that flows into our Honokohau Harbor, causing irreversible damage to the surrounding nearshore
waters and the countless lives that depend on them. You have had ample time and notification of this issue
(and opportunities to work to fix the problem).
I am also attaching a letter that I co-signed and shared with all COH Councilmembers and State senators/
representatives from nearly a decade ago; and linking a recent scientific study that identifies sewage pollution
using stable isotopes from anchialine pool shrimp at the south end of Honokohau!
"Anchialine pool shrimp (Halocaridina rubra)as an indicator of sewage in coastal groundwater ecosystems on the
island of Hawaii" .
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/iournal.pone.0290658 Comm. N $ • 3S
Ref. To: ' Hi P I iLI
i
Ref. Date 1` — 6 2f23
Maui County spent over$4 million dollars over the course of twelve+years fighting a similar lawsuit
over their Lahaina Wastewater Treatment Plant,to ultimately lose in the U.S. Supreme Court against our
nonprofit and other plaintiffs. County of Maui v.Hawai`i Wildlife Fund has now set the precedent for
Kealakehe and many other groundwater polluters.
Please do not let Mayor Roth make the same mistakes as Mayor Victorino. Do not approve the funds requested
by the mayor and use your powers to urge the administration to settle the litigation,upgrade the Kealakehe
Wastewater Treatment Plant, and do what is right for Hawai`i's environment and people. Doing otherwise
and approving Resolution 372-23 and the plan it sets forward would be irresponsible
governance. Please use our taxpayer dollars towards solutions of the wastewater pollution versus fighting
community members urging you to do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Megan Lamson
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Megan R.Lamson Leatherman,M.S.
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND
Hawaii Island Program Director
PO Box 18oi,Kealakekua HI 9675o
meg.HWF@gmail.com/megan@wildhawaii.org
tutp://www.wildhawaii.orq/
debris hotline 808/769-7629
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2
'I„, MEHANA CONSULTING
Hawai`i GE License No.W67093073-01
Post Office Box 1127 • Kealakekua,HI • 96750
IA;4 . mehana.consulting@gmail.com
{;' =_-I www.mehanaconsultingweebly.corn
It .I', cell:808.217.5777
6 August 2014
To Whom It May Concern:
We, the undersigned scientists, share a deep concern about the sewage treatment facility and pit
disposal located at Kealakehe, Kailua-Kona. Studies by marine scientists continue to show impacts
and evidence from anthropogenic sources (Johnson et al. 2008, Parsons et al. 2008, Dailer 2011).
In 2008, USGS scientist, Chip Hunt,gave a presentation about potential hydrological connections
between the disposal pit and our marine and coastal waters via inherent tracers.
The 2014 draft report by the Hawaii Department of Health designated the nearshore waters
outside of Honokohau as impaired under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). In this
report,two nearby sites (Honokohau Beach and Pinetrees-Honokohau) had multiple violations of
water quality pollutants including turbidity and nutrients (total nitrogen, total phosphorus,
nitrate/nitrites, orthophosphate) (HIDOH 2014). Last but not least, it is clear that Hawai'i County
has no National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System "NPDES" permit for the disposal pit
dumping. Lacking a NPDES permit in and of itself is sufficient grounds for a CWA lawsuit.
It has been brought to our attention that the County of Hawai'i's chairperson for the Department
of Environmental Management has been referring to a dye study that was conducted in 1994 to
justify this continued dumping. However, by the County of Hawai'i's own follow-up progress
report, "these tests [by Aecos Laboratory for R. M.Towill in 1994] were inconclusive" (Waimea
Water Services, Inc. 1996). A more advanced study conducted in Lahaina, Maui took over 80 days
before the tracer was detected (Johnson et al. 2013) in adjacent coastal seeps.
Those of us in the scientific community have a responsibility not only to do good research, but to
share those findings; and when necessary,to engage and be part of the solution. We are trained
to be good observers, and document what we see. Almost anyone who spends time in the ocean
can't help but feel wonder and amazement at the complexity of life there.
However, when those ecosystems are clearly being threatened by human pollution, we are
compelled to speak out:to sound a warning. It is in that spirit that we request an end to the
dumping of effluent at Kealakehe that is having negative impacts in the nearshore marine
environment. Given what we already know of the hydrology of this watershed (see Hunt 2008,
Johnson et al. 2008, Peterson et al. 2009), it is unreasonable to think that sewage effluent going
into the disposal pit is not ending up in the ocean.
Coral reef ecosystems thrive in nutrient poor conditions, and research has shown that
eutrophication and bacteria released from wastewater and agricultural runoff has had deleterious
effects on nearby marine ecosystems (Bell 1992, Hunter and Evans 1995, Fabricius 2005). The
detrimental ecological impacts of waste-associated nitrogen on nearshore coral reef ecosystems
were also,described in a letter to Mayor Kenoi from Dr. Hamnett and the Management Committee
of the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative Research Program in August 2011 (Hamnett et al. 2011). One
just needs to look at our nearest neighbor, Maui County,for numerous examples of the problems
that arise from improper wastewater disposal (e.g., algal blooms, coral disease/die offs). Yet,
there remains opportunity here on Hawaii Island to remedy this problem at the Kealakehe
Wastewater Treatment Plant, hopefully without a lawsuit.
In the current system, we are both wasting a valuable water resource and threatening the local
economy with its prosperous eco-tourism industry(e.g., dive/snorkel, sportfishing,
whalewatching) in West Hawai'i. For all of these aforementioned reasons and more,we
respectfully request that the original promise of the treatment plant for water reuse finally be
realized.
To this end,we call on our elected and appointed officials to work together to end this dumping,
sooner rather than later. We humbly ask you to avoid further delay in dealing with this critical
Clean Water Act issue, and to make the financial and engineering resources required a key priority
on your agendas.
Mahalo nui loa for your time and consideration. cl I
Most sincerely,
/( ConsCA
Megan R. Lamson, M.S., Owner& Marine Scientist, Mehana Consulting
and the following concerned scientists:
Jason E.Adolph, Ph.D.
Camille Barnett
Richard H. Bennett, M.S., Ph.D., President, Applied Life Sciences LLC
Steven Colbert, Ph.D.
Courtney S. Couch, Ph.D.
Michael L. Domeier, Ph.D., President, Marine Conservation Science Institute
William G. Gilmartin, Director of Research, Hawai'i Wildlife Fund
Laura Jackson
Ann Kobsa, Ph.D., Biologist, Malama 0 Puna & Hawaiian Reforestation Program
Caitlin L. Kryss
Ross A. Martin
Linda B. Preskitt, M.S., Hawai'i Island Coordinator, Eyes of the Reef Hawaii
Brian Tissot, Ph.D.
William j.Walsh, Ph.D.
Tracy Wiegner, Ph.D.
Listed references:
Bell, P.R.F. 1992. Eutrophication and coral reefs—Some examples in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.Water
Research 26(5):553-568.doi: 10.1016/0043-1354(92)90228-V
Fabricius, K.E. 2005. Effects of terrestrial runoff on the ecology of corals and coral reefs: Review and
synthesis. Marine Pollution Bulletin 50(2): 125-146.doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2004.11.028
Hamnett, M.P. (Director, Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative, RCUH), L. Eldredge(Bishop Museum), K. Foster(US-
FWS),J. Leong(Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, UHM), R. Nishimoto(DLNR-DAR Hilo), R. Richmond
(Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative, RCUH), C.Smith (Botany Dept., UHM),and W.Walsh (DLNR-DAR Kailua-Kona).
Letter to:William Kenoi(Mayor,County of Hawai'i),2011 Aug 31.2 pp.
Hawaii Department of Health (HIDOH).2014.2014 State of Hawaii Water Quality Monitoring and
Assessment Report: Integrated Report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.Congress
Pursuant to§303(d)and§305(b),Clean Water Act(P.L.97-117). Draft,April 2014.
Hunt,C. 2008. Results of Sampling for Wastewater Tracers at and Near Kealakehe WWTP, Kona, Hawaii.
USGS/Hawaii Dept.of Health Cooperative Program —Wastewater Source Tracking— Briefing
presentation, March 2008.
Hunter,C.L.,and C.W. Evans. 1995.Coral reefs in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii:Two centuries of Western influene
and two decades of data. Bulletin of Marine Science 57(2):501-515
Johnson,A.G., C. R.Glenn,W. C. Burnett, R. N. Peterson, and P.G. Lucey. 2008.Aerial infrared imaging
reveals large nutrient-rich groundwater inputs to the ocean,Geophysical Research Letters 35, L15606, doi:
10.1029/2008G L034574.
Parsons, M.L.,W.J.Walsh,C.J.Settlemier, D.J.White,J.M. Ballauer, P.M.Ayotte, K.M.Osada,and B.
Carman.2008.A multivariate assessment of the coral ecosystem health of two embayments on the lee of
the island of Hawaii. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56: 1138—1149.
Dailer, M.,C.Smith,and C.Glenn.2011. Preventing the introduction and spread of nutrient driven invasive
algal blooms and coral reef degradation in West Hawai'i. Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative/NOAA Final Report.
Available at: http://www.hcri.ssri.hawaii.edu/files/research/pdf/Dailer_HCRI_NOAA_Final_Report.pdf.
Waimea Water Services, Inc. 1996. Kealakehe WWTP Effluent Reuse and Management Project. Final
Progress(March 1996) Report on Effluent Discharge, Reuse,and Quality. March 1996.
Other sources of info:
Bowles,S.P.,J. Mink, and G.Yuen.2006. Geology and ground-water hydrology in the vicinity of Honokohau
Harbor: report by Waimea Water Services. Inc.,assisted by Mink and Yuen, Inc.,appendix G-1 in Kona Kai
Ola environmental impact statement, 16.
Dailer, M.L., R.S. Knox,J.E. Smith, M. Napier, and C.M. Smith. 2010. Using d15N values in algal
tissue to map locations and potential sources of anthropogenic nutrient inputs on the island of
Maui, Hawaii, USA. Marine Pollution Bulletin 60(5), 655-671.