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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0528.000 2006-2008 LINDA LINGLE f CHIYOME LEINAALA FUKINO, M. D. GOVERNOR OF HAWAII ~ S ~ OIgECTGIi Or HEALTH i~`1\\ STATE OF HAWAII " ,,1,, 1 ~ DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH P.O. BOX 3378 In reply, please refer to: HONOWLU, HAWAII 96801 ~ EMD/WB W W 244 FINAL DEC CL June 22, 2007 CERTIFIED MAIL 7005 1160 0001 8381 4526 RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Ms. Gail Tsuboi Corporate Council Costco Wholesale Corporation 999 Lake Drive Issaquah, Washington 98027 Dear Ms. Tsuboi: Subject: Variance Application No. 244 Docket No. 07-VWW-02 Back-end of the Warehouse -Use of One (1) Domestic Wastewater Line and One (1) Food Wastewater Line Exit, Generated by the Butcher and Bakery Areas 73-5600 Maiau Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii TMK: (3) 7-3-051: 001 Please find enclosed the Department of Health's Decision and Order regarding the above mentioned application for variance request which was GRANTED on June 15, 2007 for five (5) years. We are enclosing for your information the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Please note the variance conditions and if there are any questions relative to the variance, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Harold Yee, Chief of the Wastewater Branch at our direct toll free phone number 974-4000 ext. 64294, fax (808) 586-4300. Sincerely, THOMAS E A IZUMI, P.E., I Environmen Management Enclosures: Final Decision and Order Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law c: Clean Water Branch Environmental Planning Office Safe Drinking Water Branch Wastewater Branch -Kona Staff Engineer S Z~ Department of W ater Supply -County of Hawaii 40nIT. PIO. Di~~strio Health Office -Hilo Ref. To: vHawaii County Council Ref. Dpte 1 ] Z~~/ Applicant - CH2M Hill - Ms. Dawn Barsana STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH In the Matter of the Application ) Docket No. 07-VWW-02 Variance Application No. WW 244 ) for Individual Wastewater System ) Back-end of the Warehouse ) Use of Individual Wastewater System ) for One (1) Domestic Wastewater ) Line and One (1) Food Wastewater ) Line serving the Butcher and Bakery ) Areas, 73-5600 Maiau Street ) Kailua-Kona, Hawaii ) TMK: (3) 7-3-051: 001 ) DECISION AND ORDER Pursuant to Chapter 342D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and Chapter 62 of Title 11, Administrative Rules and based upon the application and staff review, the Variance Request from the provisions of Chapter 11-62, Section 11-62-03 is hereby GRANTED for five (5) years with the following provisions: 1. Plans for each IWS shall be submitted to the Wastewater Branch for review and approval before any construction begins. In addition, the treatment IWS shall be approved in writing before being placed into service. 2. Each septic tank shall be fitted with an effluent filter(s). 3. Pretreatment of all food waste wastewater shall be provided prior to entering the septic system. Pretreatment shall meet the requirements of Chapter 11-62. 4. The wastewater exiting the pretreatment system shall be monitored as follows and shall not exceed the following limits: BODS 200 mg/I: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. TSS 200 mg/I: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application W W 244, Daket No. 07-VW W-02, Decision 8 Order, Page 7 FOG 100 mgil: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. pH 5 to 8: weekly first 6 months; monlhly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. 5. The owner or owner's representative operating the wastewater system shall furnish to the Director of Health, within a reasonable time, the results of the effluent analyses in item 3. 6. The owner or owner's representative operating the wastewater system shall al{ow authorized representatives of the Department of Health to a) enter upon the owner's premises where the wastewater system is located; b) have access to and copy, at reasonable times, any records that must be kept for the operation of the wastewater facility; c) inspect at reasonable times the wastewater facility; d) sample or monitor at reasonable times, for the purposes of assuring effluent limit compliance. 7. The wastewater system shall be properly operated and maintained. The operation and maintenance of the wastewater system shall be under the direct charge of a professional operations company employing Hawaii certified operators. 8. The existing seepage pits (if applicable) shall be properly registered/permitted by the Department's Underground Injection Well Program. 9. The project shall connect to the County sewer service system should it become available to the area. 10. There is no automatic renewal. Should applicant wish to renew his variance application, applicant must submit an Application for Variance for renewal. DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, June 15. 2007 THOMAS E. IZUMI, P.E. EF Environmental Management Division Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application WW 244, Docket No. 07-VWW-02, Decision & Order, Page 2 STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH In the Matter of the Application ) Docket No. 07-VVWV-02 Variance Application No. WW 244 ) for Individual Wastewater System ) Back-end of the Warehouse ) Use of Individual Wastewater System ) for One (1) Domestic Wastewater ) Line and One (1) Food Wastewater ) Line serving the Butcher and Bakery ) Areas, 73-5600 Maiau Street ) Kailua-Kona, Hawaii ) TMK: (3) 7-3-051: 001 ) FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW An application from the Ms. Gail Tsuboi, Corporate Council of Costco Wholesale Corporation, Issaquah, Washington, for a five (5) year variance from Hawaii Administrative Rules, Chapter 62 of Title 11, Section 11-62-31.03 was reviewed by the Department of Health staff. A public notice of the application was printed in the March 10, 2007 issue of the Honolulu Star Bulletin and the March 14, 2007 issue of the West Hawaii Today publications. Three (3) comments pertaining to the application were received during the 30 days following the publication of the public notice. Findings of Fact The individual authorized to act for the applicant, Ms. Lori Nishida, Hawaii Contact for CH2M Hill, Honolulu, Hawaii, has applied for alive-year variance from Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR), Section 11-62-03 Definitions which states "Individual wastewater system means a facility which is designed to receive and dispose of no more than 1000 gallons per day of domestic wastewater. Individual wastewater systems may involve treatment processes and include, but are not limited to, septic tanks and household aerobic units with disposal system and cesspools. Each individual wastewater system shall be an independent system and shall have all of its plumbing, treatment (if any}, and disposal components separate from any other wastewater system." Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application WW 244, Docket No. 07-VWW-02 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Page t The applicant states that at the back-end of the warehouse, one (1) domestic wastewater (DWW) line and one (1) food wastewater (FWW) line axits the warehouse into separate seepage pits. Based on the metered water consumption, the estimated total wastewater flow currently exiting the back-end is approximately 3,195 gpd. Wastewater from the FWW generated by the butcher and bakery areas flows through an existing 950 gal grease interceptor. DWW flows from the employee restroom is estimated at 625 gpd. The subject project, Costco Wholesale Corporation is located at 73-5600 Maiau Street, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and identified as TMK: (3) 7-3-051: 001. The total area of the subject lot is 16.1 acres. The applicant has made the following comments. 1. The large capacity septic system proposed to serve the facility would not comply with HAR Section 11-62-03 because the IWS would receive more than 1,000 gallons per day of wastewater. The estimated flow into the system would be 3,905 gallons per day. 2. The existing large capacity cesspool(s) must be closed and replaced with a new treatment individual wastewater system by April 5, 2005 to comply with federal requirements. 3. The current State requirement of a wastewater treatment plant would significantly add to the construction cost as well as require a much greater outgoing maintenance cost. 4. There currently is no nearby conveyance for wastewater to the existing wastewater treatment plant. The proposed treatment system is designed to reduce the higher strength food wastes down to domestic levels before discharging into the existing seepage pits until the independent wastewater system (IWS) is able to connect to the Hawaii County wastewater system. 5. The back-end wastewater treatment plant improvements are shown in Figure 2. The FWW leaving the existing 950 gal grease interceptor discharges into a proposed 2-chambered, 500 gal capacity, grease interceptor where the downstream chamber is used as a wet well for a pump station. The CWW line exiting the front-end grease interceptor will connect to this proposed back-end grease interceptor. Wastewater from the wet well will be pumped into a proposed 25,000 gal aerobic treatment unit and gravity flow into a 3,500 gal settling tank and 6,000 gal septic tank before discharging into an existing seepage pit(s). The back-end DWW will also discharge into the same 6,000 gal septic tank, mixing FWW and DWW before exiting into the same seepage pit(s). Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Appllcatlon WW 244, Docket No. 07-VWW-02 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Page 2 6. The applicant believes this variance request is in the public interest because the LCC will be upgraded to an IWS (septic system). The IWS plans will be designed by an engineer and will be submitted to DOH for review and approval. The new IWS will provide a better wastewater treatment system compared to the existing LCC. Therefore minimizes impact to the environment. 7. The existing LCC will be upgraded to an IWS (septic system). The IWS will provide a better treatment system prior to effluent disposal. The IWS will be designed and constructed to meet the Department of Health standards. The impact to the environment will be minimized compared to the current wastewater disposal. 8. The variance is requested for the maximum of five (5) years. Plot maps and Figures have been attached to the application for variance but can not be shown here. After the initial Application for Variance was submitted and the public notice was printed, CH2M Hill submitted the following modifications/changes to the original variance comments: 1. The developer proposes a much larger grease interceptor and a different type/size of aerobic pretreatment system/process. 2. The original variance application stated the use of a smaller GI (500 gallon), but we now would like to propose the 25,000 gallon aerobic unit and the 3500 gallon settling tank. The following agencies submitted the following comments: 1. The Clean Water Branch submitted the following comment: Recommend to deny this variance application. 2. The Safe Drinking Water Branch submitted the following comments: A. The property is situated "makai" or below the Underground Injection Control (UIC) line. Land areas below the UIC line, in general, overlie aquifers that are not an underground source of drinking water for injection well regulatory purposes; B. In a prior disposal system determination, the UIC program had determined that the five wastewater disposal structures currently Costca Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application W W 244, Docket No. 07-VW W-02 Findings o/Fact and Conclusions of Law, Page 3 serving the facility were non-injection wells based on their as-built dimensions. Thus, UIC permitting requirements are not applicable; and C. If the seepage pits in this variance application and the disposal structures mentioned in item No. 2 are the same structures, then we have no objection to granting the variance. Please contact Mr. Jamie Rimando at telephone (808)586-4258 if you have any questions. 3. The Wastewater Branch states that there is no existing sewer service system available for connection and therefore recommends the granting of this variance application with the following conditions: A. Plans for each IWS shall be submitted to the Wastewater Branch for review and approval before any construction begins. In addition, the treatment IWS shall be approved in writing before being placed into service. B. Each septic tank shall be fitted with an effluent filter(s). C. Pretreatment shall be provided to non -domestic wastewater and effluent exiting the pretreatment unit(s) shall meet minimum efFluent quality set by the Department. Adequate monitoring of the pretreatment unit(s) shall be provided to insure that they pertorm adequately. D. The project shall connect to the County sewer service system should it become available to the area. Please contact the Planning & Design Section of the Wastewater Branch at (808) 586-4294 if you have any questions. Conclusions of Law Chapter 342D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 342D-7(c), states that no variance shall be granted by the Department unless the application and supporting information clearly show that: 1. The granting of the variance is in the public interest as defined in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 342D-6(c)(4). Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application W W 244, Docket No. 07-VW W-02 Findings of Fact and Conclusions oT Law, Page 4 2. The granting .of this variance will not substantially endanger human health or safety. 3. Compliance with the rules, regulations or standards from which the variance is sought would produce serious hardship without equal or greater benefits to the public. Based upon the foregoing findings of fact, it is concluded that the above requirements have been met. Comment and Recommendation Based upon the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is my recommendation that the variance request be GRANTED for five (5) years with the following conditions: 1. Plans for each IWS shall be submitted to the Wastewater Branch for review and approval before any construction begins. In addition, the treatment IWS shall be approved in writing before being placed into service. 2. Each septic tank shall be fitted with an effluent filter(s). 3. Pretreatment of all food waste wastewater shall be provided prior to entering the septic system. Pretreatment shall meet the requirements of Chapter 11-62. 4. The wastewater exiting the pretreatment system shall be monitored as follows and shall not exceed the following limits: BODS 200 mg/I: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. TSS 200 mg/I: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. FOG 100 mg/I: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. pH 5 to 8: weekly first 6 months; monthly after 6 to 24 months; quarterly (four per year) after 24 months. Costco Wholesale Corporation -Variance Application W W 244, Docket No. 07-VW W-02 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Page 5 5. The owner or owner's representative of the wastewater system shall furnish to the Director of Health, within a reasonable time, the results of the effluent analyses in Item 3. 6. The owner or owner's representative of the wastewater system shall allow representatives of the Department of Health to a) enter upon the owner's premises where the wastewater system is located; b) have access to and copy, at reasonable times, any records that must be kept for the operation of the wastewater facility; c) inspect at reasonable times the wastewater facility; d) sample or monitor at reasonable times, for the purposes of assuring effluent limit compliance. 7. The wastewater system shall be properly operated and maintained. The operation and maintenance of the wastewater system shall be under the direct charge of a professional operations company employing Hawaii certified wastewater operators. 8. The existing seepage pits (if applicable) shall be properly registered/permitted by the Department's Underground Injection Well Program. 9. The project shall connect to the County sewer service system should it become available to the area. 10. There is no automatic renewal. Should applicant wish to renew his variance application, applicant must submit an Application for Variance for renewal. DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, June 15. 2007 L . THOMAS E.,A I UMI, P.E., C E Environment I Management n The foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law are hereby adopted. Costeo Wholesale Corpo2tion -Variance Application W W 244, Docket No. 07-VW W-02 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Page 6 Transmittal Date: ' Wastewater Branch Variance Application Docket No. - VWW - APP # WW Name/Title: ~ ~ ~ l Y Subject: Final Signed Decision Cover Letter, Sig ed Decision & Order & Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law ROUTE TO: Applicant: I (d, - ~ P~ , A ent: Q Director of Health -Chi ome Leinaala Fukino Deputy Director for Environmental Health Administration - Laurence Lau Chief, EMD - Thomas E. Arizumi Attorne General's Office, AG Mark Bennet, De uty Mark McConnel, De ut Bill Coo er Clean Water Branch - ~ Environmental Plannin Office - Kel Sunada Safe Drinkin Water Branch - Stuart Yamada Sanitation Branch - Commer cial Pro erties Only Wastewater Branch Staff Personnel [X] Kona -Dane Hiromasa ITMKs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) [ I Hilo -Jerry Nu nogawa (TMKs 1, 2, 3, 4) [ ]Kauai -Lori Vetter ]Maui -Roland Tejano [ )Oahu - Johnn y On Water Departments [ ]Board of Water Supply - C{ifford Lum .(~G~ County of Hawaii Dept of Water Supply -Milton Pavao [ ]County of Maui Dept of Water Supply -George Y. Tengan ( ]Kauai County De artment of Water - Ed ward Tschupp [ I District Health Office -Maui -Herb ert Matsubayashi, Chief Sanitarian [ ]District Health Office -Kauai - Clyde T akekuma, Chief Sanitarian istrict Health Office -Hilo -Aaron Ueno ,Chief Sanitarian - Cit & Count of Honolulu, Department of Plannin & Permittin Count of (NG{ I Council Oahu Nei hborhood Board # NO ACT10N REO.UIRED: Here is the FINAL SIGNED Decision & Order and Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law. X The attached is for your information to file or discard at your discretion. No action is required. Thank you for your assistance in the variance application process. From: Mr. Harold Yee, Chief, Wastewater Branch 919 Ala Moana Blvd. Room 309 Honoluli.i, Hawaii 96814-4920 phone (8081 586-4294 fax (808) 586-4300 2006 variance route slip - final decision.doc as of 12/01/2006 vww