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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0450.000 2000-2002 R ECt IVE4y itme ~~'_.3~~1C4r~ By .f~c County Cguncil 011064 November 29, 2001 Mr. Galen Kuba, P.E. Director Department of Environmental Management County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Dear Mr. Kuba: Subject: County of Hawaii (East and West Hawaii) Sewer System Maintenance Inspection Attached for your use are our sewer system maintenance reports for the County of Hawaii. There were no major deficiencies that were noted from the inspections of the East and West Hawaii sewer systems. However, noted in the reports are the deficiencies that were cited in last year's report that still needs to be resolved. Six wastewater spills occurred last year due to heavy rains causing five pump stations and a manhole to overflow. These spills, caused by the inflow and infiltration (I/I)of rainwater, require the County to investigate sources of I/I and plan for any needed sewer line repair and rehabilitation work. The County must also ensure that funding is available for both short and long term projects. Increases in the sewer user charge or obtaining financing by other means may be necessary to ensure that these projects will be completed. Should you have any questions, please call Sina Steffany of our Wastewater Branch at 586-4294. Sincere, J~ 1 % ~ THOMAS E. ARIZUMI, P.E., CHIEF Environmental Management Division SLS:erm Attachment Comtti. TVo, c: County Council Public Works Chairperson (w/report) EPA, Region 9 (Attn: Tom Huetteman, w/report} F'ilc No, Ref. To: Ref. UEC 1 7 200 EAST HAWAII DISTRICT SEWER SYSTEM MAINTENANCE REPORT EACKGROTJI~I~ DATA County: Hawaii (East Hawaii) Dates(s) of Inspection: October 12, 2001 Inspector(s): Sina Steffany County Representative(s)/Job fiitle: Lyle Hirota/Superintendent Paul Ochi/Sewer Maintenance Supervisor Approximate miles of se~rers in the system: 36.5 Approximate population served by the system: 21,839 Current status of deficiencies cited in previous inspection reports: Deficiency: Sections 21-5(b)(1) and 21-5(b)(3) of Chapter 21 of the Hawaii County Code which are exemptions to the mandatory sewer connection requirement, should be deleted. These exemptions conflict with Section 11-62-06 (b) of the Hawaii Administrative Rules which states, "All building(s) generating wastewater and located within or near proximity of an available public sewer system as determined by the director, shall connect to the public sewer. Status: Status remains the same. An ordinance was drafted to address the issues but it was reviewed and rejected by the County Council. Deficiency: Although sewer user charges were increased by 20% in 1998, there is a need to ensure that sewer user charges are adequate to support the immediate and long-term sewer rehabilitation projects. Continued annual requests to increase the user charge is recommended. Status: Status remains the same. Sewer user charges are still inadequate to support the immediate and Long-term sewer rehabilitation projects. East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 2 Deficiency: Some infiltration on Kalanianaole Avenue has been corrected with the new link sleeve equipment and training provided to staff. Additional infiltration work needs to be corrected upon receipt of grouting equipment and additional training for staff. Status: The infiltration problem along Kalanianaole Avenue has been corrected by the use of the chemical grouting equipment by the Hilo and Kona sewer maintenance crews. 2. Modification/Additions - Planned/Present Construction Status: Sewer extensions in Waiakea Houselots - Construction was completed this year. Sewer extensions in Paukaa and replacement portions of the system - Construction was completed this year. Sewer extensions in Kaumana Garden and Puueo - Projects are still in the planning stage. CURRENT INSPECTION 1. Maintenance: Preventive Maintenance: All lines in the East Hawaii collection system are scheduled to be cleaned or visually inspected at least once within a five year period. The line crew's goal is to clean at least 10 miles of line per year. The collection system lines are being cleaned on a quarterly, semi-annual, annual, and bi- annual basis depending on the maintenance history. Lines that are located in problem areas are cleaned and inspected on a more frequent basis. Visual inspection of manholes in known trouble areas are done weekly. The line crew records maintenance and cleaning work performed in the field in a daily logbook. This logbook East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 3 contains the date, amount of lines cleaned and camera inspected, type of debris removed, and the condition of the line. The sewer maintenance supervisor transfers the information from the logbook to a maintenance folder. The supervisor also records the total length of pipe cleaned. The sewer maintenance supervisor has the collection system area maps and is presently working on assigning an identification number to all manholes in the system. The supervisor is trying to design a manhole numbering system that will be easy for his crew to understand. The sewer lines are currently identified by streets and sections of streets. The collection system area maps are utilized by the sewer maintenance supervisor to record the lines that have been cleaned. Colored pens are used to mark the lines that have been cleaned. Also, the dates of cleaning are recorded on the map. Corrective Maintenance Program: Most of the repair work is being performed by the collection system crew. The Kona collection system crew has provided assistance to the Hilo crew on major repair work. Both crews are currently working on the infiltration problem on Kalanianaole Avenue. The crews are using chemical grouting equipment to accomplish the infiltration repairs on Kalanianaole Avenue. Link sleeve equipment is used by both crews to accomplish structural spot repairs. Work requiring direct digging is performed by contractors. To date, the crews have repaired about 2,195 feet of line on Kalanianaole Avenue using chemical grouting equipment. Approximately 600 feet of infiltration repair work remains to be performed on Kalanianaole Avenue for the project to be completed. 2. Staffing: The collection system staff consists of one Sewer Maintenance Supervisor and three Sewer Maintenance Repairers. One of the Sewer Maintenance Repairer positions has been vacant for the last two years. Despite having a vacant position, the crew appears to be up-to-date with their preventive maintenance schedule. As for keeping up- to-date with their corrective maintenance schedule, the Kona East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 4 collection system staff has provided assistance to the Hilo crew on jobs requiring major repair work. 3. Spills: Six wastewater spills of undetermined quantities were reported last year. The spills were attributed to heavy rains which occurred during a three day period from November 1, 2000 through November 3, 2000. The heavy rains caused wastewater to overflow at five pump stations and one sewer manhole. 4. Present Deficiencies: 1. Sections 21-5(b)(1) and 21-5(b)(3) of Chapter 21 of the Hawaii County Code which are exemptions to the mandatory sewer connection requirement, should be deleted. These exemptions conflict with Section 11-62- 06(b) of the Hawaii Administrative Rules which states, "All building(s) generating wastewater and located within or near proximity of an available public sewer system as determined by the director, shall connect to the public sewer"; and 2. The current sewer user charges are not adequate to support the immediate and long-term sewer rehabilitation projects for the County of Hawaii. Continued annual requests to increase the user charge is recomimended. 5. Comments and Recommendations: The development of a computerized database is recommended for all preventive and corrective maintenance records kept by the supervisor. Maintenance and cleaning information are currently being recorded in a logbook by the supervisor. The County should consider developing a pretreatment and grease trap inspection program. Additional manpower may be needed and the budgeting for additional staff should be considered. East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 5 WEST I~AWAII DISTRICT SEWER SYSTEM MAINTENANCE REPORT BACKGROUIQD DATA County: Hawaii (West Hawaii) Dates(s) of Inspection: October 10, 2001 Inspector(s): Sina Steffany County Representative(s)/Job Title: Lyle Hirota/Superintendent Merton Ogata/Sewer Maintenance Supervisor Approximate miles of sewers in the system: 16 Approximate population served by the system: 13,174 1. Current status of deficiencies cited in previous inspection reports: Deficiency: Sections 21-5(b)(1) and 21-5(b)(3) of Chapter 21 of the Hawaii County Code which are exemptions to the mandatory sewer connection requirement, should be deleted. These exemptions conflict with Section 11-62-06(b) of the Hawaii Administrative Rules which states, "All building(s) generating wastewater and located within or near proximity of an available public sewer system as determined by the director, shall connect to the public sewer." Status: Status remains the same. An ordinance was drafted to address the issues but it was reviewed and rejected by the County Council. Deficiency: Although sewer user charges were increased by 20o in 1998, there is a need to ensure that sewer user charges are adequate to support the immediate and long-term sewer rehabilitation projects. Continued annual requests to increase the user charge is recommended. East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 6 Status: Status remains the same. Sewer user charges are still inadequate to support the immediate and long-term sewer rehabilitation projects. Deficiency: Some infiltration on Kalanianaole Avenue has been corrected with the new link sleeve equipment and training provided to staff. The additional infiltration needs to be corrected upon receipt of grouting equipment and additional training for staff. Status: The infiltration problem along Kalanianaole Avenue has been corrected by the use of the chemical grouting equipment by the Hilo and Kona sewer maintenance crews. 2. Modification/Additions - Planned/Present Construction Status: Sewer extension projects for the Lai'opua Houselots, Malulani Gardens subdivisions were completed. The Keauhou View Estates project work is ongoing. Alii Drive Phase III sewer main extension work was completed. The Alii Drive Phase III sewer lateral connections work is still ongoing. CLTRRENI` INSPECfiION 1. Maintenance: Preventive Maintenance: All lines in the west Hawaii collection system are scheduled to be cleaned or visually inspected on an annual basis. The line crew cleaned 14 miles of line in the last calendar year. Majority of the collection system lines are being cleaned on a quarterly basis. The maintenance crew are concentrating on the densely populated and known problem areas. Visual inspection of manholes in known trouble areas are performed three times per week. Camera monitoring is done whenever an assessment of a line is needed. East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 7 The line crew records maintenance and cleaning performed in the field in a daily logbook. This logbook contains the date, amount of lines cleaned and camera inspected, type of debris removed, and the condition of the line. The sewer maintenance supervisor transfers the information from the logbook to a maintenance folder. The supervisor records the total length of pipe cleaned. The sewer maintenance supervisor has the collection system area maps and a master listing of all the manholes in the system. The sewer lines are currently identified by streets and sections of streets. The collection system area maps are utilized by the sewer maintenance supervisor to record the lines that have been cleaned. Colored pens are used to mark the lines that have been cleaned. The dates of cleaning are also recorded on the map. Corrective Maintenance Program: The maintenance crew are currently utilizing link sleeve equipment to accomplish structural spot repairs. Chemical grouting equipment is available for infiltration repairs. To date, the chemical grouting equipment has not been used in the Kona area. The County is currently using the grouting equipment in Hilo for the repair work at Kalanianaole Avenue. All work requiring digging is handled by contractors. The Hilo and Kona crews are providing assistance to each other when needed. The Hilo crew will assist the Kona crew if additional manpower is needed for a job in the Kona area. Likewise, the Kona crew will help the Hilo crew as needed. The Kona crew is currently providing assistance to the Hilo crew for the Kalanianaole Avenue infiltration work. 2. Staffing: The collection system staff consists of one Sewer Maintenance Supervisor and two Sewer Maintenance Repairers. The crew appears to be up-to-date with their preventive maintenance schedule. As for keeping up-to-date with their corrective maintenance schedule, the Hilo collection system staff will provide assistance to the Kona crew, as needed. East and Waste Hawaii Sewer System Maintenance Inspection November 29, 2001 Page 8 3. Spills: There have been no spills in calendar year 2000. There were also no spills reported in calendar year 1999. 4. Present Deficiencies: 1. Sections 21-5(b)(1) and 21-5(b)(3) of Chapter 21 of the Hawaii County Code which are exemptions to the mandatory sewer connection requirement, should be deleted. These exemptions conflict with Section 11-62- 06(b) of the Hawaii Administrative Rules which states, "All building(s) generating wastewater and located within or near proximity of an available public sewer system as determined by the director, shall connect to the public sewer; and 2. The current sewer user charges are not adequate to support the immediate and long-term sewer rehabilitation projects for the County of Hawaii. Continued annual requests to increase the user charge is recommended. 5. Comments and Recommendations: The development of a computerized database is recommended for all preventive and corrective maintenance records kept by the supervisor. Maintenance and cleaning information are currently being recorded in a logbook by the supervisor. The County should consider developing a pretreatment and grease trap inspection program. Additional manpower may be needed and the budgeting for additional staff should be considered.