HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-27 EMC testimony (10-25) Holmes, Stephen - Naalehu and Pahala
From: Stephen Holmes <councilmemberholmes@icloud.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 1:30 PM
Subject: Naalehu and Pahala
To: Georjean Adams
Cc: Cory (Martha) Harden
Georjean:
Just a few thoughts on this.
1. Disposal is going to be an issue if they don’t do water recycling. Disposal involving groundwater will
certainly trigger the NPDES permit issue. Sump, percolation ponds, or injection wells all use
groundwater to convey pollutants. Hawaii County already has numerous injection wells where this is a
legal issue. Why would we ignore this after the U.S. Supreme Court decision and subsequent ruling
against Maui County by Judge Mollway on remand?
2. Will a new plan connect all of the homes on private cesspools or just the ones on gang cesspools? The
old plan was crazy. The system needs more paying customers and homeowners need to have get off
cesspools with a closure deadline coming up.
3. Both Naalehu and Pahala as old sugar cane camp towns have irrigation infrastructure and Mac nut
orchards are a great use of recycled water. A new EIS needs to explore beneficial reuse given the setting
and the legal issues around disposal. The level of treatment needs to be sufficient to allow for this.
Lots of policy issues for the EMC to consider. Let’s do this right.
Steve Holmes