Wastewater tunnel route a danger

Recent news coverage has focused on the concerns of residents in affected communities that abut the planned wastewater tunnel through the Oneawa Hills (Kalaheo Hillside).

These residents have every reason to be concerned. Both the Kalaheo Hillside Residents Association (KHRA) and the Healani Gardens Association of Apartment Owners (Healani) members were denied full disclosure and bought homes on land that should not have been developed for residential use, but the city issued development permits anyway.

KHRA provided the city with information that documented a 1955 Soil Survey of the Territory of Hawaii done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture prior to Kaneohe Ranch’s construction of the Kalaheo Hillside subdivision, and a 1992 certified appraiser’s report. Healani provided an engineer’s soil analysis, which it paid for. The findings of all three were consistent.

Basically, the Oneawa Hills and these communities that abut it are sitting on an extinct volcano caldera with many large lava tubes that may collapse into sinkholes under pressure, and basaltic rock that is "thick, dense, and difficult to fracture … usually requiring blasting." The Oneawa Hills are unstable and susceptible to rock and mud slides, and shifting. The Healani soil analysis addresses boulders on the hillside that should not be a problem unless they are disturbed.

The most damning comment was made by the certified appraiser, who stated that to build structures on this site — Kalaheo Hillside — could lead to threat of injury or death to the residents occupying these sites.

Some people may have seen recent articles and commentary in the Star-Advertiser ("Wastewater tunnel a threat to homes, residents fear," June 18; and "City should not be arbiter about own sewage tunnel," June 28); as well as TV news reports, most recently on KHON-TV2 on July 29.

There will be those who will be quick to label this as a NIMBY situation. It is definitely not. The Board of Water Supply water tower is in close proximity to where the intended shaft will be dug. H-3, a federal defense highway, is downhill from where the shaft will be dug. Should there be a rock or mud slide, Kalaheo High School will be affected. If the sewage treatment plant exceeds its capacity, as many expect, and the sewage goes into the bay, the state will be concerned. So everyone who pays city tax, Hawaii state tax and federal tax will be paying for the "Oooops, sorry!"

Despite all of the above, the city and contractor give little credence to what has happened, and the studies that tell them what will probably happen.

Why? Because they have no stake in this. The "Ooooops, sorry!" has worked in the past.

What the combined affected communities propose is that they take the safer and more environmentally friendly route along Mokapu Boulevard.

If they insist that they have utmost confidence in their proposed route, let them prove it. We insist that they waive immunity and limits on their liability.

The saddest commentary is that we pay the salaries of the politicians we have elected, their political appointees, the bureaucrats and the contractor. Yet they show little concern for the safety of their constituents who pay their salaries.

If there is a lawsuit because they did not heed the foreknowledge provided them, the taxpayers will pay for their settlement.