Settlement of lawsuit likely means higher sewage fees

Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced today that the city has agreed to a comprehensive plan to end a six-year-old lawsuit over the city’s wastewater system and create a timetable for upgrades and improvements.

The improvements to sewer facilities island-wide is likely to mean an increase in sewer fees for residents, although an exact fee schedule has not yet been released.

The City Council is expected to take up the settlement agreement at its next meeting July 14. The settlement would then go to the federal court for approval.

“This carefully negotiated agreement will put past disputes behind us and eliminate the regulatory maze of decrees and orders that currently bind the city,” Hannemann said in a statement.

The settlement comes as the Environmental Protection Agency was poised to deny the city’s request to extend waivers exempting Oahu’s two largest treatment plants at Sand Island and Honouliuli from having to perform secondary treatment on sewage.